Steel engineering giant RPG Australia collapses as 150 jobs go

Steel engineering company RPG Australia has entered administration and 154 redundancies have already been made, with a total of 310 jobs at risk.

RPG, an Australian-owned heavy steel manufacturing and installation business, employs staff at four plants in Queensland and South Australia.

The business is primarily involved in the construction of large steel structures, such as wind power generation towers, the pilings for wharfs and bridges, pipes and other steel structures for the mining and renewable energy sectors.

Administrators Peter Gothard, Jim Sarantinos and Timothy Michael of Ferrier Hodgson were appointed last week. They are undertaking an “urgent review” of RPG’s financial position.

This morning the administrators closed RPG’s plants in Dalby, Queensland, where 76 redundancies were announced; Richlands, Queensland, where eight redundancies were announced; and Kilburn, South Australia, where 69 redundancies were announced.

One employee in Melbourne was also made redundant and the administrators said RPG’s operations at Wacol, Queensland plant remain under review.

The business was advertised for “urgent sale” this morning and the administrators are launching an expression of interest campaign to identify potential buyers for the RPG business and assets.

“The administrators are hopeful that ongoing support from all stakeholders will allow for a sale of the remaining businesses to take place and the employment of staff preserved,” Ferrier Hodgson said in a statement published today.

“The outcome of any sale of business and asset realisations during the administration will determine whether staff will receive their entitlements in full from the assets of the group.”

The appointment of administrators to RPG is the latest in a spate of recent collapses in the struggling construction sector.

The first meeting of creditors will be held on Wednesday, October 17.