26/06/2025
Sydney’s Bathla juggles dozens of property projects and a $2.7b debt
A major real estate developer in Sydney’s western suburbs owes more than $2.7 billion but has just $6.5 million in the bank, new disclosures show.
Bathla Group, once known as Universal Property, mostly builds large housing estates and townhouses, and targets its marketing at new migrants. The company is building hundreds of units in Cabramatta, for instance, in a project that is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
But the Bathla’s true financial position is revealed in accounts filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission last Friday after The Australian Financial Review raised questions about their late disclosure.
The accounts show a cash balance of $6.5 million on June 30, with borrowings of $2.7 billion. Bathla Group has net assets of $430 million.
Among the company’s assets are $209 million of units completed and up for sale, $191 million deposits and $1.5 billion of work that is “in progress”. There is also a land bank that Bathla Group has valued at $1.3 billion.
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The major real estate developer, once known as Universal Property, has borrowed from the country’s biggest private credit firms, and owes one $600 million.
