Beleaguered property developer and rich list member Luke Saraceni has had more of his assets seized by receivers, just a week after the collapse of his $500 million Perth office tower project, Raine Square.
Yesterday, receivers from insolvency firm Ferrier Hodgson took control of three properties owned by Saraceni’s companies: an $8 million site in Perth where his winery was located; a $5 million block of retail units in the Perth suburb of Spearwood; and a $20 million shopping centre in the Victorian regional town of Warrnambool.
All of the properties have been used as security against the Raine Horne project, which Saraceni was developing with fellow property developer Hossean Pourzard.
Major lender Bankwest – which has also signed on as the 20-storey tower’s major tenant – called in receivers to Raine Square after Saraceni and Pourzard’s joint venture company, Westgem Investments, missed a $50 million payment to their lenders in late 2010.
The properties placed in Ferrier Hodgson’s hands yesterday will now be sold to help repay the debt on the Raine Square project.
But angry Saraceni, who was valued at $288 million on last year’s Rich 200, has accused lenders Bankwest and Bank of Scotland of playing a “very, very vindictive game” against him.
“If the Commonwealth Bank, Bankwest and BOSI (Bank of Scotland International) think they will destroy me, to try to get me out of the way so they can do whatever they like with a profitable asset, they’ve got another think coming,” he told The West Australian last night.
“I’ve only just started and they will rue the day that they attempted to do this to me. Watch this space.”
Receiver Martin Jones said in a statement that the appointment of receivers to the properties will not have any impact on tenants.
“We don’t anticipate any disruption to their businesses during the course of the appointment,” he said in a statement.
“In the circumstances, we feel this is an entirely appropriate course of action for the secured creditor to take to protect its position.”
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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