Qintex Limited was an Australian financial services company founded in 1975 as Takeovers, Equities & Management Securities (TEAM). It was renamed Qintex Limited and came to prominence in 1986, collapsing five years later in 1991. Its main shareholder and Managing Director was

Christopher Skase Christopher Charles Skase (18 September 19485 August 2001) was an Australian businessman who later became one of his country's most wanted fugitives, after his business empire crashed spectacularly and he fled to Majorca, Spain. Early life Sk ...

. At its peak, Qintex owned interests in Channel 7, Mirage Resorts,

Hardy Brothers Hardy Brothers is a specialty retailer and private company of fine jewellery, timepieces and decorative arts in Australia. Its historic products are now highly collectible and are held in state and national collections. It is the only Australia ...

jewellery retail concern and a number of other businesses. Its headquarters was in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia.

History

Qintex was established in 1975 by

and his partners. Skase expanded the company substantially, initially into retail with investments in Hardy Bros and car dealer Nettlefolds. Qintex also expanded into property development. In 1984, Qintex bought television station

TVQ TVQ is the Brisbane television station of Network 10 in Australia. History In April 1964, the Postmaster-General's Department granted Universal Telecasters a broadcasting licence. The channel was allocated channel 0 (the 0 was pronounced as ...

-0 in

. Later Qintex purchased

HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melb ...

and

ATN ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of John Fairfax & Sons, was one of the first four licences (two in Sydney, two ...

-7 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

from John Fairfax & Sons. In 1986, the company invested in an entertainment company named Qintex Entertainment (today

Sonar Entertainment Halcyon Studios, LLC., formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment, Qintex Entertainment, HRI Group and Robert Halmi Inc., is an American entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution ...

), formed by the merger of American studios

Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on Ju ...

and Robert Halmi Incorporated. In 1989, the company was struggling to meet interest payments and sold its share in

Mirage Resorts Mirage Resorts (formerly Golden Nugget Companies) was an American company that owned and operated hotel-casinos. It was acquired by MGM Grand, Inc. in 2000, forming MGM Mirage (now MGM Resorts International). History Golden Nugget Companies Inc. ...

for in excess of $433 million.

Collapse

The first signs of collapse showed in October 1989, when the American subsidiary filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

protection after Qintex failed to provide financing for a debt payment. The

Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...

suspended Qintex's stock shortly after when the company failed to respond to questions of its financial health. A month later, in November 1989, Qintex Ltd went into receivership with debts of over A$1.9 billion. The collapse happened just six weeks after the company lost a bid to acquire MGM/UA studios for A$1.5 billion. Its collapse was prompted by what was later seen as an excessive amount of debt in the business. This coincided with very high interest rates that prevailed in 1989. When the company missed interest payments and was not able to renegotiate its position with the

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...

, the bank appointed a receiver to the company. It was in 1991 that bank-appointed receivers created

Seven Network Limited Seven Group Holdings Limited (SGH, formerly Seven Network Limited) is an Australian diversified operating and investment group in the media, mining and construction industries. History Seven Network Limited was formed in 1991 by receivers t ...

in order to bundle together the company's assets.

References

{{Business in Australia Companies based in Brisbane Defunct financial services companies of Australia Financial services companies established in 1975 Financial services companies disestablished in 1991 Australian companies disestablished in 1991 Australian companies established in 1975 Corporate scandals