Michael Searle chips in for Gold Coast Titans creditors
by: Margie McDonald
From: The Australian
May 26, 2012 12:00AM
GOLD Coast boss Michael Searle has offered to pay $200,00 from his own pocket in order to help creditors for the failed property arm of the NRL club receive the money they are owed.
The deal struck yesterday means around $22 million of debt has been removed from the Gold Coast Titans football club, although they are not out of the woods yet.
The Titans still need to raise another $5m or the ARL Commission will step in and take over the running of the club.
At a meeting yesterday attended by most of the 15 creditors for the Gold Coast Titans (Property) Ltd, Searle put forward his plan to them and the company's voluntary administrators, Korda Mentha.
The plan, termed a Deed of Company Arrangement, was accepted by 97 per cent of creditors including the Tax Office, which is owed around $22m.
The bulk of that figure, or about $20m, is held by the Commonwealth Bank and Handling Solutions and will be settled when the Centre of Excellence sale is finalised.
The five-storey building housing the Titans NRL team's offices, gymnasium, indoor swimming pools, meeting rooms, cafe and merchandise store, lies adjacent to the club's home ground of Skilled Park at Robina.
The Titans' property arm ran into serious financial trouble trying to service the growing debt on the centre and it was put up for sale six weeks ago. Two directors of Handling Solutions bought the property and intend to rent it back to the NRL club.
But the property trust's woes escalated to the point where federal court action in April found the company was prima facie insolvent.
Yesterday's news, coupled with the centre's sale and the property trust being placed into voluntary administration, means the company will not be liquidated and the scheduled June 1 court hearing for wind-up proceedings will not take place.
Searle said he would not be commenting until the Titans had finally overcome all its financial problems.
The positive outcome to yesterday's creditors meetings means stage one of Searle's plan to revive his club is complete.
Apart from the two biggest creditors, Commonwealth Bank and Handling Solutions, there was another group of unsecured creditors, including the $1.04m claimed by Reed Constructions, that were owed about $1.2m.
The DOCA called for the director of the Property Trust, Searle, to provide $200,000 over the next two years to ensure all the creditors are paid potentially 100 per cent of money owed.
The meeting was told Searle would be pursuing legal action through insurance companies over the professional negligence of some sub-contractors. The money recouped there would be added to the $200,000 to pay off creditors. If Gold Coast Titans (Property) Ltd had been wound up, then no one would have paid.
Stage two of Searle's debt removal plan is to come up with the remaining $5m and he has reportedly been in capital-raising negotiations with several businesses and corporate groups.
Searle has already agreed with the ARL Commission that he will step aside as managing director to allow an independent board to run the Titans NRL club.
Searle intends to nominate for a position on that board.
Phil Rothfield ‏@BuzzRothfield
