The Australian Stock Exchange this morning suspended trading in the Austcorp Property Group as the debt-strapped property company was placed in the hands of voluntary administrators. BRI Ferrier has been appointed administrators to Austcorp Group Ltd, Austcorp Funds Management Ltd and Austcorp Towers Investment Pty Ltd.

The announcement brings to a halt work on the $1 billion, 79-level “Vision” project in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD.

It will also halt the proposal by Treasurer Wayne Swan to provide funds to Austcorp from the Rudd Government’s Australian Business Investment Partnership, known as Rudd Bank. Swan said in March that the “Vision” tower was “just the sort of project” to qualify for federal finance.

A statement from BRI Ferrier said: “The appointment of the voluntary administrators is due to the stressed economic conditions Austcorp is now facing following the global credit crisis and overall recession.”
It said that Austcorp remained “optimistic” about the Vision tower black and that it will go ahead “once a restructure is undertaken”.

The media contact for Austcorp is listed as former 60 Minutes producer Anthony McClellan of AMC Media who recently represented bikies’ organisations in their fight against draconian new laws proposed in NSW, Queensland and South Australia.