Bathla Group collapse leaves $3.6bn liabilities after payment warnings
Bathla Group has entered voluntary administration with estimated liabilities of $3.6 billion, putting thousands of prospective homeowners and subcontractors at risk. The collapse matters because contractors say long-running non-payment problems and alleged pressure to reduce safety and quality standards had signalled financial trouble well before the company failed.
Managing director Bhart Bhushan blamed weaker sales, tax changes and rising construction costs, while subcontractors said they had repeatedly stopped work or pursued overdue invoices. Bathla, founded in 1997 and known for lower-cost developments in Sydney’s north-west, has its main entity Universal Property Group owing almost $3.2 billion and Raj & Jai Construction owing $304 million.
- Bathla Group collapsed with estimated $3.6 billion in liabilities.
- Tradies allege years of late payments and warning signs.
- Thousands of homebuyers and contractors may be affected.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Bathla Group’s management could reasonably argue that the collapse reflects an exceptionally difficult market rather than deliberate wrongdoing. Weaker buyer demand, tax changes and sharply higher construction costs can rapidly undermine the finances of developers operating on lower-cost margins, and voluntary administration may be presented as the most orderly available way to preserve assets, investigate options and maximise returns for creditors and homebuyers.
The case against
Subcontractors and prospective homeowners have a strong basis to argue that the failure was not simply an unavoidable market setback if payment delays and concerns about safety or quality pressures had persisted for some time. From this view, the scale of the liabilities and repeated unpaid invoices suggest that warning signs should have prompted earlier transparency, stronger financial controls and intervention to protect smaller businesses and purchasers who bore much of the risk.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “How tradies knew exactly what was going to happen to Bathla Group years before its $3.6billion crash – as they reveal how they dodged the worst of it: ‘Absolute scumbags’”.