Ostwald Bros owes creditors $61 million

MORE than 140 Ostwald Bros workers who were stood down last week will hold onto their jobs.

The administrator behind the struggling civil construction company made the announcement yesterday afternoon after it successfully negotiated with the lead contractors on nine projects.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Derrick Vickers said the employees were already back at work.

“It’s pleasing that we’ve been able to negotiate a return to work for these employees and good that these projects can continue without delay,” he said.

“Our focus now is on our review into the company’s financial position and working towards the best outcome for all creditors, including the employees in roles that were made redundant last week.”

It was a rare piece of good news as further details were brought to light about the Dalby business’s financial woes.

PWC said Ostwald Bros owed $31 million to 536 unsecured creditors and $30 million to the main secured creditor ANZ Bank.

It’s pleasing that we’ve been able to negotiate a return to work for these employees. — Derrick Vickers

More than 260 workers were sacked last week after CEO Brendan Ostwald revealed on Monday the business had been placed into voluntary administration.

Laid off workers said there was no guarantee they would receive a redundancy payout.

The administrator also found 20 parties interested in buying part or all of Ostwald Bros.

“We’ve been encouraged by the level of interest and while it is early days we’re hopeful that a party will be found who is keen to take on the business in its entirety either as a sale or restructure,” Mr Vickers said.

PWC will hold a creditors meeting today at the Four Seasons function room in Toowoomba from 2pm.