Despite investors losing money and projects falling into administration, Kingdom Developments has continued to buy properties.
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But, in a twist, the troubled developer is buying properties for a second time - meaning they have paid two separate deposits.
The troubles for Kingdom started late last year when lender Keystone Capital took over a property in Gladstone Avenue, Wollongong, and sold it.
The $6.2 million proceeds were enough to cover what Keystone and a second mortgagee were owned - leaving not a single cent for investors who paid an advertised $65,000 per share to buy into the project.
With Australian Securities and Investment Commission documents showing 100 shares were issued for Gladstone Avenue, that means the combined loss to investors could be more than $6 million.
Since the December sale of Gladstone Avenue, more projects have been taken over by lenders, while others have had administrators appointed.
At last count nine Kingdom projects are in receivership.
One of those projects - a multi-storey unit complex in Ryde - was placed on the market by receivers and sold by commercial real estate company CBRE.
The buyer was Kingdom.
"We saved that property, stopped it going for lower price at auction," Kingdom director Andrew Bodnar told investors last month.
He added that, with the company trying to refinance and save the remaining properties, the deposit on that property has bought them until the end of March.
If a new lender doesn't come on board by then, Mr Bodnar said the Ryde property "could be resold again as a mortgagee in possession".
It's a similar story with land at Leppington in western Sydney - the lender took control and sold it at auction. Kingdom bought it back, finding the money to pay a 5 per cent deposit on a deal worth several million dollars.
But without new financing, the lender will take control of that property again and resell it.
In terms of that refinancing, Kingdom is struggling; Mr Bodnar told investors last week that they had had "more than 50 meetings" but have only two lenders that are "seriously considering" all or some of the projects.
Several months ago, Kingdom had more than 20 projects on the go, which has prompted investors to ask why the developer took on so much work, leaving them overexposed now the property market is in a downturn.
Mr Bodnar said it was "because we had the funds to take them on, because people believed in those projects".
"At the time when we bought those projects we had a very low interest rate environment and we had the majority of our friends and family that invested in each project and covered the initial acquisition cost of 10 to 15 per cent of the purchase price," he said.
"So we took on those projects because we had shareholders who believed in those projects and funded the initial acquisition of those projects."
Mr Bodnar said he had a lot of "skin in the game" in the form of $16 million in investments from family, friends and people from his church group.
In last week's investor briefing, Mr Bodnar warned investors against taking him to court; the Mercury is aware of several investors discussing their options with solicitors.
Mr Bodnar cautioned against that approach because it could stop him making money for Kingdom.
"I know that some of you also maybe even considered chasing me personally or doing a lawsuit against me, or thinking that I've got something to hide," he said.
"If you are thinking of pursuing me I think the only thing that's going to end up is a cost of more legal fees for you and in the end it's not going to generate any extra money.
"If [I have] the inability to trade and to be able to continue to refinance, then how can I borrow to repay and do right by everyone who's had faith in us and trust in us?
"If a decision is made by yourself personally or as a group, in the end you might have a moral win in some regard, in saying that I can no longer trade, but it will not be a financial win unfortunately and it will be a financial loss for everyone."
Home detention for Kingdom Developments director
One of the directors of Kingdom's Gladstone Avenue project is in home detention over his involvement in a high-speed chase leading to the deaths of two teens during a high-speed chase.
Before the Kingdom Developments site was scrubbed clean - which director Andrew Bodnar said was to ensure it wasn't seen to be looking for new business while seeking refinancing - Mazen Kabbara was listed as the company's "project operations executive".
His photo sat alongside the key players in Kingdom - directors Mr Bodnar and Samuel Hamrosi.
While Mr Bodnar and Mr Hamrosi are listed as directors on the bulk of Kingdom's projects, Kabbara fulfilled that role in three that have been sold or ended up in the hands of administrators - Gladstone Avenue and properties in Ryde and Lidcombe.
In February last year, Kabbara pleaded guilty to two counts of negligent driving occasioning death.
Court documents said Kabbara was at his Edmondson Park home when he woken at about 4am on November 1, 2020, to find the family's Holden Commodore was being driven away.
While his wife contacted police, Kabbara jumped into another car and followed the thieves on a 16-kilometre high-speed chase.
The chase ended when the stolen car crashed into a power pole.
The 17-year-old driver and his 15-year-old brother in the back seat - neither of whom were wearing seatbelts - were thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene, while a second 17-year-old was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Kabbara told the court he regretted his actions, but appealed his 21-month sentence.
That was rejected by the court but it was decided in June last year that he would serve 12 months in home detention and carry out 400 hours of community service.
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