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The Western United Thread

www.theage.com.au

Liquidators move on company run by AFL star Pendlebury’s ex-manager

Investors poured $75 million into Jason Sourasis’ dream to build a sporting hub in the west, but a total collapse is looming.
www.theage.com.au www.theage.com.au

A plan by Scott Pendlebury’s former manager Jason Sourasis to build a sporting and entertainment complex on Melbourne’s western fringe appears to be in tatters.

Liquidators are expected to be appointed to the project, known as the Western Melbourne Group (WMG), and A-League club Western United as soon as Thursday.
One of the stars of the AFL, Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury, has launched legal action in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The move will be a blow for Pendlebury and dozens of other investors who have poured $75 million into the project in Tarneit, which has never progressed beyond the planning and promotional stage.

The two-time premiership player launched legal action last month alleging Sourasis had misappropriated $2.2 million of Pendlebury’s money, much of it directed to the WMG project.

The expected demise of the club and project comes as WMG project shareholders scramble to raise millions more in cash to put forward a last-gasp offer to creditors and investors.

Johnson Controls, a partner in the project, is widely known to have been working hard to pull together a rescue proposal with other project partners and investors, but the amount raised has so far fallen short.

The final call on placing the project and club into liquidation will be made at a Federal Court hearing on Thursday, where the Australian Taxation Office is seeking to liquidate the businesses over the club’s $10 million-plus in tax debts.

Without the required funds by 10am, the time of the court hearing, WMG is expected to be placed into liquidation, according to two sources familiar with the case but not authorised to speak while it is before the court.

A who’s who of sporting stars are also invested in the Western Melbourne Group project alongside Pendlebury, including two-time Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes and fellow AFL players Dyson Heppell, Jy Simpkin, Josh Battle and Mason Wood. Tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis is also an investor, as is former NBA player Dante Exum.

Once appointed to the group, liquidators from McGrathNicol will investigate WMG’s affairs to determine whether there will be any return to creditors. Western United is in hibernation for the 2026 season due to its financial troubles.

There could be opportunities to resurrect the project with the Wyndham City Council in the future.

Investors are expected to receive little in the liquidation of the business, which had $75 million of investor money poured into it through the Sourasis-managed Sayers Road Trust.

Pendlebury claims that most of the $2.2 million allegedly misappropriated from his bank account by Sourasis was invested into the project, according to documents filed by the footballer’s lawyers in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

A first hearing for Pendlebury’s civil claim against Sourasis is expected on Friday, when a timetable for the case will be set.

Sourasis recently hit back at Pendlebury’s court claim in a formal defence in which he claimed to have the two-time premiership player’s permission to make each withdrawal and messages to prove it.
Jason Sourasis has rejected the allegations against him.

Pendlebury joins a long line of creditors and claimants alleging they have lost money with the A-League entrepreneur, whose financial woes were first revealed by this masthead in June.

Along with the $75 million invested in the WMG project through the Sayers Road Trust, many millions more were raised from investors, including Pendlebury.

A new administrator’s report investigating Sourasis’ business activities has alleged that investors may have lost many millions more on other projects as his business empire crumbled under unpaid tax debts.

The full extent of Sourasis’ financial woes are only now beginning to emerge after a key business of his, Jaszac, entered administration.

The imminent liquidation of WMG means the football licence for A-League team Western United, which is currently on hiatus, would no longer be in use and could be rolled over to a new entity.

The looming collapse has intensified manoeuvring behind the scenes of Melbourne’s business circles.

Several prominent figures have been involved in high-level talks over the past few weeks about taking over the licence and relaunching the project with the view of immediately injecting funds.
Click to expand...
 
melbcityguy said:
Omg just let them die so we can move on
Click to expand...
The APL rather than admitting that Western United was a never-happen-land-deal-with-a-never-happen-stadium are preferring to reanimate the corpse that is Western United. In many ways this reanimation is APL's way of saying that would rather than a flawed debt ridden business model rather than admitting any actual football clubs to the top of the pyramid.

"Several prominent figures have been involved in high-level talks over the past few weeks about taking over the licence and relaunching the project with the view of immediately injecting funds. "

I enjoy a good ongoing laugh, like this thead.
 
Two financial lifelines could yet save former A-League team Western United from being knifed by the Australian Taxation Office.

Lawyers for the ATO, two companies behind the soccer club, and a string of the club’s creditors faced a brief hearing in the Federal Court on Thursday, where details of last-ditch bid to pay off the club’s $15.5m tax debt.

The club’s barrister, Bridget Slocum told Justice Penelope Neskovcin there two backers proposed financial lifelines of $15.5m and $5m.

The payment of those amounts would cover the club’s tax debts, but were contingent on the ATO withdrawing its application to wind up the club before being paid.

The ATO has so far refused the proposal, and wants to be paid first.

“It’s a ‘chicken and egg’ difficulty,” Ms Slocum said.

Justice Neskovcin said, “This seems to me to be the last chance”.

If the club were wound up and liquidated, Justice Neskovcin said “It seems to me like the situation would be dire.

“The (ATO) would not receive much of a return on the outstanding debt.”

The club has $60m in secured debt, and those creditors would be paid first.

Mark McKillop, for the ATO, said his client had been chasing its money since January.

“There’s been assurances given since the middle of the year.

He said the ATO was concerned that the $5m lifeline was reliant on the club passing the financier’s due diligence process, while the $15.5m appeared to be backed by Jason Sourasis-controlled company, Jaszac Investments, which is facing a vote on its liquidation in coming days.

Lawyers for the creditors – including a cleaning company and a uniform supplier – all supported the bid to keep the club afloat.

One said: “We ultimately just want to be paid, we won’t stand in the path to that being a possibility.”

Justice Nescovkin ordered the club and the ATO to try and resolve their dispute before a mediator on Thursday afternoon.

The ATO’s case is one of a string the embattled club and its founder, Jason Sourasis, are involved in, with its star-studded investors seeking to claw back money.

Sourasis has been a high profile figure in AFL circles, and previously owned Hemisphere Talent Management.

Some of the players on the talent agency’s books, including Collingwood star Scott Pendlebury, poured money into the club.

The ambitious plan was to build a 15,000 seat soccer stadium and club in paddocks in Melbourne’s west.

The club had success on the field, winning the A-League championship in 2022, but is now sitting out the season after it failed to pay players.

Pendlebury appeared to have dialled in to Thursday’s Federal Court hearing.

Pendlebury lodged a separate Victorian Supreme Court action in October, claiming that Sourasis had taken $2.14 million out of his Macquarie bank account without his knowledge.

Sourasis is defending that claim, arguing that he had messages and emails that showed Pendlebury knew about his investments.

That case is due to have a short hearing on Friday.

However, if Western Melbourne Group falls over, it is unlikely that Sourasis would have any money to pay Pendlebury.

Pendlebury’s case may then rely on whether Sourasis had any insurance over his financial planning business, which may then be claimed.
 
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