Australia

The federal government is providing the corporate watchdog with $11.4 million in additional funding to help strengthen scrutiny of the insolvency industry, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Outgoing Attorney-General Robert McClelland released a suite of new proposals for the industry on Wednesday. They include new money for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to reform the way insolvency professionals are registered, disciplined and regulated.

Residential property builder National Builders Group is the latest company to be issued with an ultimatum from its bank: either refinance its loan with another bank or sell the business, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The group, which generates revenue of between $25 million and $30 million selling home building services ranging from drafting, engineering, selecting fixtures then outsourcing construction to a builder, is in talks with Malaysian company MAE Synergy to buy the business by December 30. But National Builders Group is still very much a going concern.

Data released by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission showed that Queensland's small business owners continue to bear the brunt of uneven economic conditions, making up more than 80 percent of the state's initial insolvency reports, the Courier-Mail reported today. Queensland's small business insolvency is higher than the national average of 78 percent. Of the 1468 initial external administration reports filed for Queensland businesses, 1192 involved companies that employed fewer than 20 people.

The board of Proserpine Cooperative Sugar Milling Association Ltd. has refused to accept a A$120 million takeover offer by Chinese state-owned Cofco Group's local unit Tully Sugar Ltd., Tully said Sunday. The Proserpine board has chosen to enter administration despite Tully tabling a binding and unconditional asset sale and loan agreement, Tully said in a statement.

Mortgage broking group Refund Home Loans has been placed in administration, but several buyers are considering acquiring the business which has more than 350 franchisees and a substantial stake in the growing alternative home loan market, SmartCompany.com.au reported. The announcement comes just 18 months after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission slammed the company and Ormond, after he admitted making false and misleading statements to franchisees about an agreement with the ACCC itself.

A Goldman Sachs-led consortium continues to be frustrated in its attempts to secure control of the hotels group Redcape Property Fund, The Australian reported in a commentary. The consortium can get events of default under the fund's banking facilities, but it just cannot get a default notice served, which would trigger a requirement for the default to be remedied or the fund would face almost certain administration and receivership, a possibility that may give the consortium more leverage in negotiating with Redcape's bankers, in particular ANZ.

Pub owner National Leisure & Gaming, which operates 35 hotels in New South Wales and Queensland, has blamed "onerous leases" for its collapse and handed receivers the daunting prospect of trying to recover more than $150 million in debt, SmartCompany.com.au reported. NLG, which operated well-known venues including The Brewhouse at Belmore, Bridgeview Hotel at Willoughby, Bankstown Club Hotel and Hermit Park in Townsville, has been teetering on the brink of collapse for the best part of 12 months, and called Ian England and Guy Edwards of PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrators on Friday.

The NSW Supreme Court has cleared the way for Centro's $4 billion restructuring, saying it can proceed to put its complex debt-for-equity proposal to votes of senior lenders, security holders and creditors, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The restructuring was in doubt after an attempt by the members of a class action and the auditor PwC, who had sought to stop the vote of the senior lenders. Under the revamp, only $10 million would be made available to satisfy contingent creditors - far short of the $300 million they expected to recover if successful.

A $100 million resort complex in Queensland owned by developer and marina group Meridien has been placed into voluntary administration, SmartCompany.com.au reported. The 124-unit One Bright Point project, of which 114 apartments have been sold, is now being looked after by BRI Ferrier, which will look to sell the remaining apartments. It’s understood the project was hit by the weakened property market, troubles in the tourism industry, the Queensland natural disaster and the strong Australian dollar.

As the Gillard government digests a set of submissions on how to clean up the insolvency industry after a Senate inquiry found the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was not regulating it properly, Senator John Williams has put the spotlight back on the commission using parliamentary privilege to do so, The Sydney Morning Herald reported in a commentary.