Adgemis Declares Bankruptcy Owing $1.8bn

Former KPMG dealmaker and under-siege publican Jon Adgemis has declared bankruptcy, owing more than $1.8 billion. 

The move follows the decision by the Australian Taxation Office to pursue Adgemis over a $162-million tax bill, and Deutsche Bank taking control of five pub assets. 

Deutsche Bank refinanced Public Hospitality’s company debt last year and this week appointed McGrathNicol as receiver for the five pubs, three of which are under construction. 

KordaMentha was also brought in as voluntary administrator for the development group, which The Urban Developer understands is the operating company for Adgemis’s pubs. 

The two existing pubs within the $371-million Deutsche Bank refinancing deal, The Empire Hotel at Annandale and The Diplomat Hotel at Potts Point, will be put to market, and construction of The Exchange and Claridge House will continue. 

The receivers are looking at options for the South Bondi Hotel development. 

Adgemis’s portfolio of pubs expanded rapidly across Sydney and Melbourne after he founded Public Hospitality during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

At the peak of his meteoric rise, Adgemis had more than 20 properties across the two capital cities.

It is understood that the $1.8 billion of debt owed to creditors largely comprised personal guarantees on money he had borrowed to build out his portfolio. 

In a statement on Thursday, Adgemis said delays in processing a personal insolvency agreement he had proposed to avoid bankruptcy had triggered the expiry of a loan linked to the five pubs.

“The collapse of the restructuring process means that arrangements intended to benefit creditors, including employees, could not be completed,” Adgemis said.

“I accept the process now in place, I accept the trustee’s appointment, and I will co-operate fully so the process can run its course.”

Bankruptcy laws mean Adgemis will no longer be able to serve as a company director.