Pub and property empire of Tom Hedley collapses into receivership

The pub, property and construction empire of Cairns-based entrepreneur Tom Hedley is in tatters after a number of his private companies were placed in receivership.

Major lenders ANZ and Suncorp, who are believed to be owed up to $250 million by the pub baron known as Barramundi Tom, appointed insolvency firm KordaMentha as receivers and managers to Hedley Constructions, Hedley Developments and Hedz, Hedley’s pub operations business.

Robert Hutson of KordaMentha said the Hedley companies had been hit by the fall in the sharemarket, which had triggered margin calls on Hedley’s stake in the listed Hedley Leisure & Gaming Property Fund.

“Tom has been devastated both personally and financially by this, but his first thoughts were for the employees and creditors of the group, and those people who have supported him personally and in business since he started his plumbing business over 40 years ago,” Hutson said.

“Despite the best efforts of Tom Hedley and his management team to restructure operations, the downturn in construction in Cairns and Townsville, and lack of new development projects meant the group was no longer viable.”

KordaMentha is now in control of the Vision apartment tower project in Cairns, the Trinity Cove residential project at Triniry Beach and the Westend apartment project in Townsville.

Hutson says all projects will be completed and the hotel operations will continue as usual.

“We will have to sell the company’s properties in due course but we hope to enter an appropriate sales campaign. We are not going to ruin the market, we will have a structured realisation approach to maximise returns,” he told the Australian Financial Review.

Hedley is best known as one of Australia’s biggest pub owners. He first rose to prominence in 2006 when he sold his Hedley Hotel Group to Coles for $306 million. In 2007 he listed the Hedley Leisure and Gaming Property Fund, but the company’s unit price has plunged in the last 12 months due to its high debt levels.

The former plumber was listed on the BRW Rich list in 2007 with a fortune of $715 million, although this fell to $285 million in 2008. He was removed from the list this year.

Hedley resigned as a director of the listed Hedley Leisure and Gaming Property Fund earlier this year to concentrate on his “substantial private business operations”.

The listed company says it is well positioned despite the woes of its founder. HLGPF says 10 of its 104 pubs are leased to Hedley’s Hedz business, while listed pub company National Leisure & Gaming runs Hedz’s pubs in New South Wales.