Topic:Construction and Real Estate Industry
Administrator Stephen Longley says if Bathla can not pay staff by Thursday, the business will not survive. (ABC News: John Gunn)
Administrators of the embattled Bathla Group say its demise is just days away if they cannot secure urgent funding.
Administrator Stephen Longley told ABC's The Business he remains hopeful of securing a last-minute lifeline from lenders.
Administrators need enough money to pay staff by Thursday or the operation will have to shut down, leaving 200 projects in limbo.
Administrators of major property developer Bathla Group have warned that the business does not have enough money to survive until the end of this week unless it secures urgent funding to pay staff.
Some of the company's 350 staff have not been paid for eight weeks, administrators Teneo said in a press conference.
"We can't go to the end of the week if we don't have money for payroll on Thursday," Stephen Longley, Teneo's senior managing director, said.
"We don't have any cash to pay wages [and] we don't have any cash to pay suppliers.
The gates to Bathla Group's headquarters closed after it announced it had plunged into administration. (ABC News: Lin Lin)
"So unless that situation can be resolved, we won't have any other option but to close the business."
Administrators were appointed last Tuesday after Bathla was unable to pay debts that topped $3.2 billion.
Last week, the administrators tried tapping existing lenders for extra funds to keep operating over the next few months then, on Thursday administrators asked the New South Wales government for a cash injection of $20 million to keep the business afloat.
The NSW government has declined to provide a lifeline but were hopeful someone else might step forward.
Teneo also said it had borrowed $1 million from its own head office so Bathla Group could afford to pay for vehicle registrations, petrol and "just to keep the lights on".
