The federal government gave almost $300,000 worth of BER funding to private schools that rented their buildings, but went broke and were forced to close, The Australian reported. The Victorian Department of Education is now trying to recover $285,326 of schools building stimulus program money from two private schools that were operated in the state by Independent Colleges Australia. The colleges in Melton and Casey, connected to the bankrupt ABC Learning childcare group, went into voluntary administration last November after it could not pay its landlord.

Workers at Whitcoulls and Borders bookstores have been forced to sign new contracts under duress, unions say. New Zealand-owned James Pascoe Group bought 57 Whitcoulls and five Borders stores for an undisclosed sum last week after the Australian-based owner REDgroup put itself into voluntary administration in February, Radio New Zealand reported. James Pascoe Group is a retail business owned by David and Anne Norman that employs 9000 staff throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Australian home loan delinquencies jumped to the highest on record in the first quarter, driven by Christmas spending, a November interest rate increase, and recent natural disasters, Fitch Ratings said, Bloomberg reported. Mortgages more than 30 days overdue rose to 1.79 percent of the nation’s residential mortgage backed securities in the quarter ended March 31, from 1.37 percent in the previous three months, according to the London-based ratings firm. The number of “low-doc” loans more than 30 days late climbed to a record 6.74 percent from 5.7 percent, according to the report.

Failed agribusiness Timbercorp's former directors must today face a class-action suit filed against them in 2009 by more than 2000 investors in the Supreme Court, the Financial Standard reported. The investors have made allegations of conflicts of interest, breaches of directors' duties, misleading conduct and other violations of the Corporations Act following the collapse of the company which went into voluntary administration in 2009 with a net debt of more than $900 million.

In a blow to the Australian banking industry, ratings firm Moody's Investors Service downgraded the debt ratings of the country's four largest banks, citing their dependence on global lending markets, The Australian reported. A downgrade to Aa2 from their previous investment grade rating of Aa1 - one notch below Moody's top rating - will likely increase their costs even as worries grow that Australia's rising interest rates will crimp profitability. The four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac and National Australia Bank - dominate lending in Australia.

One of Australia's biggest fertiliser importers and sellers has become the latest company to go into administration after Switzerland's Western Gulf Advisory failed to deliver on financing, The Australian reported. WGA, which has been accused of taking millions of dollars from Australian companies in upfront fees for loans, is understood to have committed late last year to provide loans to the Interfert and Megafert fertiliser companies owned by South Australian businessmen Peter Evans and John Simper.

Menswear retail chain Ed Harry has been sold to a management buyout group led by the company's chief executive and chief financial officer, just three months after the company fell into voluntary administration due to the precarious retail industry, SmartCompany.com.au reported. The new management team have said they will acquire 78 profitable stores out of a total of 130 locations – for an undisclosed price – and will focus on a new strategy for the entire business.

CEC Group and its employees will have a clearer picture of their futures today when management meets administrators to discuss the way forward for one of the company's main businesses, Cairns.com.au reported. CEC Constructions Ltd was placed into voluntary administration on Friday in what chief executive officer Roy Lavis said was part of the group’s survival plan as it struggles with debts of about $90 million. Mr Lavis said it was hoped the company would be bought by the workers in a plan aimed to protect the group, finance companies, staff, directors, creditors and shareholders.

Arafura Pearls Holdings has been placed into voluntary administration by its directors with more than $40 million owed to creditors, NT News reported. The Perth-based company is a ASX-listed pearl farming and managed investments company. KordaMentha partners Stephen Duncan and Chris Powell have ben appointed joint administrators. Mr Duncan said the company's pearl farming business had creditors owed around $6 million while investments in the various managed investment schemes totalled around $35 million, with some 600 members.

The chief executive of collapsed clothing retailer Colorado Group is already looking beyond the receivership process to an aggressive strategy that could more than double the size of its Jag and Diana Ferrari chains over five years, The Australian reported. Kevin Roberts, who joined Colorado just five months before it was placed in receivership by lenders owed $400 million, says that the Affinity Equity-backed group's problems are mostly confined to its balance sheet.