Adgemis’s $1.5bn debt a ‘complete furphy’ says lender

Jon Adgemis and his former fiance model Megan MacKenzie. Picture: Supplied

The lender who seized control of troubled pub baron Jon Adgemis’s $25m Bondi beachfront property has come to his defence, saying suggestions that he owes $1.5bn is a “complete furphy”.

Adelaide-based Angas Securities stepped in last April to seize the apartment building on Campbell Pde, which formed part of Adgemis’s $68.5m purchase of the Noah’s Backpackers site in June, 2022.

And now, in a bizarre turn of events, the lender thinks Adgemis’s grand plan for the site would be of mutual benefit — meaning the old backpackers could be the troubled dealmaker’s golden goose.

Andrew Luckhurst-Smith, the Angas Securities’ executive chairman, says they’re planning to sell the seized apartment block in a spring campaign, and he’s hoping creditors will back Adgemis’s plan for Noah’s, now known as South Bondi Hotel, at a meeting on Friday.

The move comes as another lender repossessed Adgemis’s mother’s home, preparing that for sale.

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Adgemis bought the former Noah’s Backpackers in Bondi Beach for $68.5m in 2022.

Adgemis, who heads Public Hospitality Group, will face creditors at Friday’s meeting, who will decide whether to bankrupt the 46-year-old or or accept a small contribution of the money they’re owed.

Along with upgrading the rooms, making the former backpacker rooms bigger with ensuites, he has plans for the public areas of the hotel.

“Jon’s going to put in a rooftop bar overlooking Bondi Beach — that’s well advanced,” Mr Luckhurst-Smith said.

“Deutsche Bank and an intermediary trustee hold the mortgage — that’s where the money is coming from and Jon’s in charge.

“It’s a structured deal, Jon’s still a director and if his arrangement gets up on Friday it will be able to proceed.”

His bankruptcy trustees recently claimed that Adgemis owed $1.5bn and had just $3.79 in the bank along with three luxury vehicles, a wardrobe of expensive clothes and two pieces of art.

“I’m not particularly impressed with the way they chose this massive number … he doesn’t have $1.bn in debt, that’s a complete furphy,” Mr Luckhurst-Smith said.

Angas Securities seized the apartment block (right) last April, and is now planning to put it up for sale in spring.

“His gross debt may be that, but that’s not taking into account all of the properties he owns.

“Whether it’s $1.bn, $2.5bn, $3.5bn or $4.5bn, if his creditors accept his proposition it’s all gone — that’s the way the bankruptcy rules work,” Mr Luckhurst-Smith said.

He added that Angus Securities has recently spent money on improving security and safety at the apartment building, along with making improvements to the ground-floor shop.

“It is our intention to put the property up for sale this spring,” he said.

“At the moment, Jon Adgemis is in the press every day, but hopefully over the next two to three months that will have died down.

“I’m just hoping that after this last burst of interest it will have to fade and we’ll get down to a serious property transaction.”

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