Sth Bnk to Sell Southbank site to Repay Creditors

Developers of the Melbourne-based Sth Bnk, the Australia’s biggest mixed-used residential project, has sought permission to go ahead with the sale of its Southbank site and use the proceeds to pay back creditors.

According to media reports, the administrators of the vehicle that developer Beulah International put into administration last month have also told creditors, in filings on Friday, that the entity may have been insolvent since at least the start of 2024.

In their recommendation to the creditors of BSSPV Pty Ltd, who meet on Wednesday to vote on the entity’s future, Pitcher Partners’ David Vasudevan and Lindsay Bainbridge recommended proceeding with the sale of the site, which they expect to take until June, to recover the most amount of money, the reports said.

“We are informed that the best means of maximising the sale price is to offer a joint sale of the three titles with the development approval in place and not offer the lots individually,” Vasudevan and Bainbridge said, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) said.

“We are unsure if the eventual sale price will achieve its prescribed valuation amounts for each of the three titles, or whether they could eventually be sold jointly or individually,” the AFR report said and no financial details such as the sale price were disclosed.

The process would mark the end of the road for Beulah’s involvement with the $2.7 billion, iconic twisting twin-tower project it conceived in a blaze of publicity in 2018 but which ran aground after it sold 80% of its apartments at prices that did not cover surging construction costs.

It may be recalled that the AFR reported last month that Beulah was considering new funding and this week named little-known Open Capital as one potential financier willing to take on the project now costing an estimated $2 billion.

Time Consuming Process

The administrators said that it could take more than a year after the preferred buyer is chosen to complete due diligence and approvals, adding that there had been significant interest in the Southbank site.

Liquidation of the entity could realise a slightly higher sum at $4.5 million, but that would also then trigger more liabilities, including the $34.4 million owed to Mayfair Global Investments, which provided management services.

Consultancies including AECOM and Arup were among the list of creditors along with architects Cox Architecture and UNstudio and the planning consultancy Urbis is owed $137,000, the administrators said.

“Creditors will be provided with an update on the outcome of the winding-up hearing at this forthcoming meeting,” they said.