Bathla Group Administration

What happened to Bathla Group?

Teneo’s portal records voluntary administrators being appointed on 25 August 2026 to Universal Property Group Pty Limited, Raj & Jai Construction Pty Limited and associated Bathla companies. Check the legal entity on your contract; the group name alone does not identify your debtor. Teneo portal, checked 7 September 2026.

The named practitioners are Stephen Longley, Daniel Walley, Adam Colley, Andrew Scott and Rebecca Gill, of Teneo Financial Advisory Australia Pty Ltd. Source B1.

ABC reported at the time of appointment that Universal Property Group carried about $3.2 billion in liabilities as at 30 June 2025, and that the group’s project pipeline covered roughly 22,000 apartments and 3,500 homes. That liabilities figure is a different measure, on a different date, from the $3.4 billion of creditor claims reported on 4 September. ABC, 25 August 2026.

What is the latest verified update?

Two things changed in September that matter more than the headline number.

This is no longer a matter of weeks. On 19 September ABC reported that the NSW Supreme Court had extended the convening period to 13 September 2027, giving the administrators up to another year before a second creditors’ meeting is required. If you have been waiting to see what happens before making decisions about your own business, that is the answer: not soon. ABC, 19 September 2026.

The books do not currently add up. The same report says company bank accounts had not been reconciled for some time and may contain about $736 million of overstated inter-company receivables and payables. Until that is worked through, any figure you see, including the ones below, is provisional. Source B6.

Known creditor claims still total about $3.4 billion, and the reported breakdown matters because it shows how much ranks ahead of ordinary trade creditors.

Land tax of about $42 million and roughly $4 million of employee wages and superannuation were reported separately at the first creditors’ meeting on 4 September. ABC, 4 September 2026, ABC, 19 September 2026.

These are reported figures subject to reconciliation. They are not a final admitted-claims total and not a payment forecast.

Subcontractors and suppliers are normally unsecured creditors, so other unsecured creditors is usually the relevant line. Employee entitlements are a priority class paid before other unsecured creditors, and secured lenders hold security over company assets. Your own position still depends on your contract and any security you hold. ASIC guidance.

The funding ran out, and that is now settled

This stopped being a rescue in late September. If you have been waiting to see whether work restarts on your site, this is the answer.

On 7 September ABC reported a short-term agreement with five lenders, worth $3 to $5 million and described as buying about two weeks. About 213 of roughly 350 staff were stood down and construction stopped on projects whose lenders were not in the package. ABC, 7 September 2026.

By 19 September Teneo had $4.7 million in initial funding with six lenders participating, covering 13 of those lenders’ projects, and talks were continuing about longer-term support. ABC, 19 September 2026.

On 24 September those talks ended. Administrators said the emergency funding was “exhausted” and that “discussions with lenders for further funding have now concluded”. All construction work will cease. Only one lender chose to keep supporting the company. A further 125 employees were stood down, leaving 67 as a core team supporting the administration. ABC, 24 September 2026.

What the administration is now doing is selling things. Teneo is working with lenders on an orderly sale of Bathla’s subdivision and land-bank sites. About $400 million of completed property is understood to be for sale or under contract. About 167 undeveloped land-bank sites have been identified, roughly 30 per cent expected to be marketed in their existing condition, with the strategy for the remaining 70 per cent undetermined. Support for sales and settlements has also ceased. Source B8.

That matters to a creditor for one reason. Money raised from those sales goes to the parties holding security over them first. It is not a pool forming for unsecured creditors.

Will work continue on my site?

No. All construction work ceased from 24 September, when the funding ran out and lender discussions concluded. ABC, 24 September 2026.

For most of September the answer depended on which lender sat behind your particular project. That distinction has gone: sites tied to the participating lenders kept going from 7 September and the rest stopped the same day, but by 24 September the money for the first group was exhausted too. ABC, 7 September 2026.

What can still differ between sites is who takes the site over next, which is the question below.

If you supplied two Bathla sites, one may still be running while the other is not, and that has nothing to do with your contract or the size of what you are owed.

Individual lenders are also taking sites over outright, and that has accelerated. On 1 September ABC reported that private credit lender PAG had taken responsibility for a 312-apartment development at Pemulwuy in western Sydney and had committed to paying contractors directly. ABC, 1 September 2026.

By 12 September ABC reported that only about five of roughly 40 lenders were funding the group’s continued operation, with others taking control of the projects securing their own loans. 360 Capital Mortgage REIT was pursuing $31.7 million across four Bathla-linked loans with receivers appointed over three of them, and Ray White Capital, Bob Ell’s Leda, Balmain and Woodbridge Capital had taken control of individual projects. ABC, 12 September 2026.

This is the part to be careful about. If a receiver takes over your site and hires someone else to finish it, that does not pay what you are already owed. ABC reports that a subcontractor owed money for completed work may still have to pursue that debt through the administration even where a receiver has taken control. A new builder on your old site is not a new customer settling your old invoice. Source B7.

So there are two questions worth asking now, and you can ask them today:

• Which lender is funding the site I worked on, and did they join the funding package?
• Who is responsible for paying for work done from this point?

The answers can be different for two Bathla sites. Neither of them changes what you are already owed for work you have finished. That stays a claim in the administration whatever happens next.

Is Bathla Group in liquidation?

Checked again on 29 September 2026, Teneo’s portal still records a voluntary administration appointment at group level, and publishes no second-meeting date and no claim deadline.

Receivers are a separate matter and they do exist. Individual secured lenders have appointed receivers over particular projects, which is not the same as the group going into liquidation. Your contracting company can be in administration while the site you worked on is under a receiver appointed by that project’s lender. ABC, 12 September 2026.

The court extension to September 2027 means a second creditors’ meeting, the one that decides between a deed of company arrangement and liquidation, is not imminent. Treat commentary about liquidation as a possibility that official notices have not confirmed, and do not assume every related entity or project has the same status. Teneo portal, ABC, 19 September 2026.

Administration and liquidation are different processes. Read what administration means for creditors.

Which dates matter?

No second-meeting date and no claim-submission deadline has been verified here. The court extension sets the outer limit for the second meeting, not a date for it, and it is not a deadline for you. Follow later official notices for the current timetable.

Bathla owes my business money. What should I gather?

Start a claim file, and build it around one thing: proving what you did, for which exact company. The group name will not do that. The legal entity on your contract will.

Get these together. It is a couple of hours of work and it is the difference between a claim that is easy to assess and one that sits at the bottom of a pile. These are practical preparation steps, not a substitute for Teneo’s own forms.

• Contract, subcontract or purchase order, including the company name and any ABN or ACN shown.
• Unpaid invoices, account statements and a reconciliation of payments already received.
• Progress claims, approved variations and retention records.
• Delivery dockets, timesheets or evidence of completed work.
• Correspondence about the account and any disputed amounts.
• Details of goods remaining on site, any security and relevant PPSR records.

Keep your own copies of everything.

Do not upload contracts, bank details or tax records to this website. There is no form here and nowhere to send them, and you should be wary of anyone who asks you to send that sort of thing by email.

If your position involves security you hold, goods still sitting on a site, or a right with a date attached, get individual advice before you act rather than after.

Do I need to lodge a proof of debt?

Use Teneo’s current instructions for your entity and the relevant meeting or claim process. ASIC explains that participation in voting involves providing claim details and, where applicable, proxy documents. Preparing invoices alone does not establish that your claim has been lodged or accepted. ASIC guidance.

The portal publishes an initial notice to creditors, a creditor FAQ, a stamped originating process and court orders dated 27 August 2026. Their contents could not be read in this review, so this page does not reproduce a form, lodgement address or deadline. Open Teneo’s official creditor documents.

Will I get paid?

We do not know, and nobody who tells you they do is being straight with you. How much of your claim gets paid, and when, is decided by the administration.

What we can tell you is what the reported numbers look like. About $110 million is the reported pool for other unsecured creditors, against $3.08 billion owed to secured lenders who are paid first, and those figures are still subject to a reconciliation that has already found $736 million of overstated inter-company balances. That does not settle what happens to your invoices, but it is the arithmetic to plan around.

ABC reports that around 600 subcontractors were involved in Bathla projects, most of them likely unsecured. Source B7.

So use the administrators’ updates for the company that actually owes you money, and until money is in your account, keep it out of your forecast entirely. Put $0 next to it and work out what your business looks like on that basis. ABC report, checked 7 September 2026.

Should I keep working or supplying materials?

Not without getting the answer in writing first.

Reports that some sites are funded are not an assurance that your work will be paid for, and they say nothing at all about your existing invoices. Those are two different questions.

Before you put anyone back on a Bathla site, get written confirmation of which company is engaging you, who has authority to commit it, and how and when the work will be paid. If that cannot be put in writing, treat the answer as no. Continuing without it is how an unpaid claim grows into a much larger one.

Your existing claim and any new work are separate matters and need separate attention. Get advice on both if you are unsure.

Can I continue legal action?

Generally not without permission, so check before you spend money on it.

ASIC says unsecured creditors ordinarily need the administrator’s consent or the court’s permission to begin, continue or enforce a claim during a voluntary administration. ASIC guidance.

If you have proceedings already running, security you hold, or a deadline you are working to, get advice on your specific position before you take the next step. This is one of the places where acting quickly without checking can cost you more than waiting a week.

What if the debt is affecting my own business?

Then that is the more urgent of the two problems, and it is the one you can still do something about.

The creditor process will take as long as it takes. Your wages, suppliers, BAS and equipment finance will not wait for it. Write down every commitment falling due over the next thirteen weeks against income you are genuinely confident of, with $0 next to anything Bathla owes you. What is left is your runway.

Read about business pressure after a major unpaid debt, which covers where your claim ranks and which company debts can become personal.

More help with your Bathla account

• Prepare unpaid invoices and creditor claim records: reconcile the account and organise supporting documents.
• Questions about further work, materials and retentions: clarify the issues before deciding your next step.
• When unpaid Bathla invoices affect your business: prepare upcoming commitments and questions for a complimentary initial conversation, with no obligation.

Update record

25 October 2026: rechecked. The material change is that the rescue ended on 24 September: emergency funding exhausted, lender discussions concluded, all construction ceased, a further 125 staff stood down leaving 67, and the administration moved to an orderly sale of land-bank and completed stock. Added that as source B8 and rewrote the funding section as a conclusion rather than a running story. Also corrected a sourcing error: the line about construction stopping and 67 employees remaining was attributed to the 12 September report when it comes from 24 September.

29 September 2026: rechecked against ABC reporting of 12 and 19 September and the Teneo portal. The court has extended the convening period to 13 September 2027. Funding revised to $4.7 million across six lenders. Creditor breakdown revised to $48 million private lenders and $110 million other unsecured. Added the reported $736 million of overstated inter-company receivables, the receiver appointments over individual projects, and the warning that a receiver taking over a site does not pay debts owed for completed work. Removed the 21 September funding-review date, which had passed.

5 September 2026: checked the public portal and latest ABC meeting report; distinguished scheduled and reported meeting information; kept funding outcomes and entity-specific status unresolved. Reviewed the page again for subcontractor usability, added clearer first steps and separated payment and further-work questions. Linked-document retrieval limits are disclosed above.