This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AUSTRALIA’S largest office landlord Dexus said Grocon’s appointment of a voluntary administrator to two subsidiaries over a $28 million lease dispute will not have an impact on its FY20 market guidance.
Last Friday Grocon appointed administrators to two dormant companies, Grocon Constructors (Qld) Pty Ltd and Grocon Constructors (Vic) Pty Ltd.
Grocon executive chairman Daniel Grollo said the decision was “regrettable”, but it had no choice because Dexus’ attitude was “unreasonable and disappointing”.
“Unfortunately, Dexus’s reluctance to wait until the court matter is concluded, means that Grocon has been left with no choice. The voluntary administration process will ultimately resolve the situation,” Daniel Grollo said.
But Dexus saw it differently, the group’s general counsel Brett Cameron responded and said: “Grocon appears to be seeking to avoid the court hearing by winding up these entities.”
In a statement to the ASX yesterday, Dexus said: “It should be noted that Dexus did not commence proceedings against Grocon.”
“Statements within the Grocon media release are factually incorrect and Dexus provides the following information for clarification.
“Grocon has had debts outstanding to Dexus and a funds management partner for more than three years relating to a lease of premises at 480 Queen Street, Brisbane.
“Grocon entered into several binding agreements to repay the debt owed and had not complied with these, despite repeated requests to do so and Dexus granting extensions to the scheduled payment dates,”
Dexus said it had issued statutory demands on Grocon seeking to have the debt paid and Grocon challenged these in court alleging abuse of process.
“Dexus is following, and intends to continue to follow, the court’s direction (next hearing is scheduled before the Federal Court of Appeal on 22 November 2019). Dexus expects judgment to be handed down soon after the hearing,”
Meanwhile the group reiterated that this will not have a negative impact on its market guidance for the 12 months ending 30 June 2020 to deliver distribution per security growth of circa 5%.
