NSW buyer Roberts Co emerges for Probuild in Victoria

Sub-contractors and tradesmen pack up their equipment and walk off a Probuild construction site in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

NSW construction firm Roberts Co has agreed to buy failed building giant Probuild’s operations in Victoria in a rare positive sign for the troubled sector.

Probuild voluntary administrators Deloitte said this week that it had reached an in-principle agreement with the privately-owned company to purchase most of the Victorian assets of the Probuild business.

Workers and sub contractors were on Thursday back at work at CSL’s 16-storey headquarters site in the Melbourne CBD being developed by PDG Corporation which was due to be completed this year.

They had also returned to the Woodlink developed 15-level luxury hotel project at 502 Albert St in East Melbourne, due to be completed in 2023.

Both projects are on Roberts Co books to purchase.

Deloitte restructuring and turnaround leader Sal Algeri said the sale was subject to completion of due diligence over the next two weeks and would also include ongoing employment for relevant Probuild employees.

“This is an excellent outcome for these parts of the group’s operations in terms of employment and certainty for subcontractors, suppliers and other stakeholders,” Mr Algeri said.

“Roberts Co would be a natural fit in terms of its experience in large-scale projects and its history with various Probuild executives.”

Mr Algeri said as well as projects in hand, the agreement includes key people within Probuild who work on the projects Roberts Co is negotiating on, key head office staff and potential new work.

Probuild administrator Sal Algeri

Roberts Co chief executive Alison Mirams said the deal aligns with the company’s growth plans in Victoria following a successful launch in NSW over the past five years.

Sydney-based Roberts Co employs 140 people and has a total workbook of over $1bn including Moxy Sydney Airport Hotel, Liverpool Hospital and the Macquarie Exchange Precinct.

The company started in 2017 as a joint venture between the family of veteran builder Andrew Roberts and the Italian family-owned construction group Impresa Pizzarotti.

The 50/50 private funded joint venture between the two families focused on commercial construction contracts including airports, hospitals, leisure, tourism and hotel projects as well as multidensity high-rise residential developments in Sydney.

Last year, the company merged into a single branded entity headquartered in Sydney with the Pizzarotti family exiting the business. According to its latest financial report lodged with ASIC, Roberts Co made a profit of $8.4m last year on revenue of $374.5m. That compared to a profit of $1.1m and revenue of $226m in 2020.

Commenting on the Probuild deal, Ms Mirams said it was not often that the right opportunities presented themselves under such challenging circumstances.

“We look forward to regaining the trust of the clients, staff and subcontractors as we continue to build a better way,” she said.

Propbuild signage on a construction site adjacent to Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne’s southeast. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Administrators were appointed to Probuild last month after its South African parent Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBHO) pulled the pin on further financial support to the troubled Australian arm.

Earlier this month it was revealed that Probuild owed its 786 workers across 19 projects $14m and untold amounts to more than 2300 creditors, as administrators Deloitte conceded they faced a “nightmarish” scenario in salvaging the company’s projects.

WBHO chief executive Wolfgang Neff said in hindsight they would have exited Australia operations earlier as “red flags” were raised with the business sustaining mounting losses.

“If we knew everything we know today we would have pulled the plug years ago,” he said.

Deloitte confirmed that the sale process of the WHBO Infrastructure diversified engineering and infrastructure business in Western Australia, which employs 300 people, was progressing well.

“There has been significant interest in that business and offers on that close this Friday,” Mr Algeri said.

He said they were still working through Probuild’s Sydney and Brisbane’s projects.

“The brand was well respected in the market. Any construction business is going to have bad projects,” Mr Algeri said.

“But what we are seeing here is the brand is well supported, construction workers on the sites are capable, loyal and technically proficient as are the people at head office.”

Deloitte has said it was unlikely that all of Probuild’s 19 projects around Australia would be restarted under the administration, with some developers choosing to “go their own way” to get work completed.

It is understood developer Cbus Property has taken control of the troubled 443 Queen St apartment tower project in the Brisbane CBD.