Onterran had $40m debts

ONTERRAN, the listed parent company of failed builder Bloomer Constructions, itself had debts of almost $40 million when it entered administration, documents lodged with ASIC have revealed.

Brisbane-based Bloomer went into administration with debts of $14 million to 600 creditors in 2017, while Onterran called in administrators on March 11.

In his report to the administrator, Onterran director Lachlan McIntosh said the listed company was owed more than $22 million, including about $18 million by related company Island Resorts (Apartments) Pty Ltd and $3 million by Bloomer Constructions itself.

The report listed 40 creditors owed $38.25 million, including $3 million to former Couran Cove owner, listed Eureka Group Holdings.

Other listed payables include $50,000 to the tax office, $1 million to the related Island Resort company, $1.5 million to Mr McIntosh and $2.1 million to a company linked to Glenn Molloy, executive director and substantial shareholder of listed PPK Group.

Onterran also reported $31,722 owed to one employee and a yet-to-be-calculated amount owed to another.

The administrator was appointed on the same day that Sydney group EDG Capital announced it had agreed to buy the bulk of Onterran’s assets at Couran Cove in a $17 million plus deal. That deal is yet to become unconditional.

Onterran’s largest shareholder is Kurrewa Holdings, a company controlled by the Bloomer family.

Mr McMcIntosh yesterday said the group had “a positive future” and planned to restructure. “Essentially the voluntary administration was entered into to restructure the group’s debt,” he said.

“We determined that to make Couran Cove truly successful, it needed an owner with a very strong capital base, which Onterran does not have.

“Our view is that a strong owner can add significant value to the resort in a way that Onterran could not.”

Mr McIntosh, a former FTI Consulting senior executive who also sits on the board of Eureka Group, said the EDG Capital transaction was in the best interests of stakeholders.

The company’s shareholders have not had an exit route for more than two years – its shares have been suspended since February 2017 and the company has not paid its ASX listing fees.

David Clout, of Brisbane’s DCA group, was appointed voluntary administrator on March 8 and a meeting of creditors was called for March 20.

Mr Clout has not responded to Bulletin calls over the outcome of that meeting.

Onterran ceded the running of Couran Cove, its only all Onterran operational business, to EDG Capital when the sell-off deal was signed. That move could have left it with no income and struggling to meet its commitments.

The 21-year-old Couran Cove resort was described as a transformative investment when control of it was bought by Onterran in a $14 million deal in 2016.

The sale deal with EDG Capital takes in all the resort’s infrastructure, including restaurant and other buildings, 200 serviced lots, lagoon-front villa land, and a parcel on the point at the resort entrance.