The majority of Made Establishment venues are facing liquidation, with administrators only selling five venues last week.
After announcing the sale of three former Hellenic Republic sites to two separate buyers on Wednesday 19 February, KordaMentha Restructuring partners Craig Sheppard and Leanne Chesser confirmed the proposed sale of two Jimmy Grants businesses to a third buyer.
An “existing CBD operator with decades of industry experience and a background in Greek cuisine”, reportedly Stalactites Group, has secured the keys to Jimmy Grants at Melbourne CBD’s Emporium and Fitzroy, which is the souvlaki chain’s original location.
There are no other viable offers currently on the table for the remaining venues — including George Calombaris’ flagship restaurant Elektra (formally Press Club) and Hotel Argentina (formally Hellenic Republic Williamstown) — with administrators now out of time to finalise any deals.
“There was considerable interest in the Jimmy Grants stores with more than 30 enquiries, but acceptable offers were concentrated on just a few of the venues,” said Shepard. “We encourage any further expressions of interest to be made direct to the relevant landlords.”
Shepard previously said sales had been difficult to finalise despite significant interest because of complexity.
A second creditor’s meeting is set for 17 March, where it’s expected the group will be put into liquidation.
About 80 creditors were in attendance at the first creditor’s meeting, which came after Made Establishment entered voluntary administration on Monday 10 February on the back of scrutiny over underpayments.
More than 400 employees are currently owed entitlements of $400,000 in leave payments and a further $1 million in other redundancy costs. KordaMentha have committed to assisting former employees recoup unpaid entitlements through the Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme once the liquidation has been finalised.
Creditors, of which there are 200, are also out of pocket. The Commonwealth Bank is thought to be owed $10 million, but can expect to see only $1 million of that returned, while major shareholder and director Radek Sali is expecting to lose his $11.5 million investment, reports The Age.
A report detailing Made Establishment’s financial affairs will be released on 10 March ahead of the second creditor’s meeting.