Milligan's $1.8 billion Halo project enters administration

KPMG has been appointed voluntary administrator to key entities tied to the Milligan Group’s flagship Halo development in Sydney, marking a pivotal restructuring step for one of Australia’s most ambitious commercial real estate projects.

David Hardy and Amanda Coneyworth of KPMG Australia were appointed on 1 April 2026 to entities associated with the Halo site at Pitt and Hunter Streets, a proposed 55-storey office tower designed to be the world’s tallest timber-hybrid building. The appointment captures the core project entities, while separate appointments have been made to place other non-project Milligan Group entities into liquidation.

The administration follows mounting financial pressure linked to the project’s complex capital structure and prolonged development timeline. The Halo project, estimated at approximately $1.8 billion, has required significant upfront capital, including the aggregation of more than 70 individual property titles, a strategy that materially increased leverage across the group.

Those pressures were compounded by a sharp shift in office market conditions following the pandemic, with tenant demand weakening and capital costs rising. Higher interest rates, construction cost escalation, and delays in securing equity partners further strained the project’s viability, despite its premium CBD location and long-term positioning as a next-generation office asset.

Approximately $400 million has been advanced by a syndicate of senior lenders, alongside additional subordinated investment from the developer and associated stakeholders, bringing total invested capital to well over $500 million to date. Lenders, led by Merricks Capital, have continued to support the project, including providing incremental funding to sustain early works and position the development for a broader recapitalisation.

The administrators have been advised that the Milligan Group intends to propose a deed of company arrangement (DOCA), with the objective of stabilising the capital structure and enabling completion of the tower. The project itself is continuing to operate during the administration, with construction-related activities and site works proceeding on a business-as-usual basis, supported by lenders and project partners, including Cbus Property, which acquired a 50% stake in the project in September 2025.

In parallel, Hardy and Coneyworth have been appointed liquidators to a number of other Milligan Group entities with no direct interest in the Halo development, signalling a broader wind-down of non-core or legacy parts of the developer’s corporate structure.