Celebrity chef Scott Pickett appoints administrator after taking $11m First Guardian hit

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Celebrity chef and prominent restaurateur Scott Pickett has appointed an administrator for two companies linked to his embattled hospitality empire, but insists his stable of popular Melbourne restaurants will remain open.

The companies placed into administration are part of the Rogue Traders Group, a joint venture between Pickett and the First Guardian superannuation fund that collapsed earlier this year amid an investigation by the corporate watchdog into the fund and its operator David Anderson.

Scott Pickett has appointed administrators to two of his businesses.

One of the companies, Rogue Traders Group Pty Ltd, controls several restaurants founded by Pickett, including Matilda, Longrain, Chancery Lane and Smith St Bistrot.

Pickett released a statement on Friday saying he needed to find an “investor or strategic buyer to recapitalise the business”.

“I want to make it clear to everyone that the remaining companies in the group, which include my restaurants, are not affected. Our restaurants will continue to trade as usual and all bookings and vouchers will be honoured,” he said.

“All staff remain employed. Their wages, superannuation contributions and entitlements are fully up-to-date and will continue to be paid on time.”

The MasterChef regular conceded he needed to establish a “stronger and more sustainable footing” for his acclaimed restaurants, while thanking staff, suppliers and diners for their support.

Romanis Cant director Manuel Hanna confirmed his appointment as voluntary administrator of SP Group Services Pty Ltd and Rogue Traders Group Pty Ltd.

However, Hanna said he would not oversee the restaurant entities, which would continue to trade as usual.

He said the decision to restructure the group’s finances was prompted by the withdrawal of a key investor associated with the collapse of the First Guardian Master Fund.

David Anderson, operator of now-collapsed First Guardian superannuation fund.

Company records show First Guardian became the majority owner of Rogue Traders Group in 2021, with Pickett controlling a 30 per cent stake of the business.

Anderson resigned as a director of Rogue Traders Group in March after the corporate watchdog accused him of mismanaging the fund, including by making a number of investments in his own pet projects. Those included his business with Pickett and other hospitality ventures such as a brew house and two unrelated restaurants in Richmond.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges these investments and other large payments to promoters of the superannuation scheme were outside the remit of the fund, which had told members their money would be invested in the share market and real estate.

A liquidators report into the First Guardian collapse shows the fund had provided a $12 million loan facility to Rogue Traders, of which $10.9 million was drawn down by the company.

“The liquidators’ investigations into the Rogue Traders loan and its recoverability are ongoing and remain commercially sensitive,” the report from July says.

The fund also provided a $550,000 advance to another Pickett company not connected to the Rogue Traders business.

As previously revealed by this masthead, the loan from First Guardian helped support Pickett’s restaurant empire at a time when Melbourne’s hospitality scene was hit hard by ongoing lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions.

Liquidators to the First Guardian fund have warned investors that the loan is likely unrecoverable.

This masthead has also previously revealed Rogue Traders had borrowed around $11 million from the Commonwealth Bank.

This month, the Commonwealth Bank appointed receivers from KordaMentha over the assets of the company to sell a $2 million apartment in Fitzroy that is owned by Rogue Traders, and the premises that house Chancery Lane in the CBD, which is owned by related company Rogue Traders Group Australia.

Between 2020 and 2021, when most Melbourne restaurateurs faced uncertainty due to pandemic restrictions, Pickett went on a buying spree.

In mid-2020, he scooped up the shuttered Longrain and its upstairs bar Longsong, as well as the site off Little Collins Street that he opened later that year as Chancery Lane, a plush bistro fitted out with green marble, chandeliers and stone archways.

In 2021, he opened several venues at the Continental Sorrento, including fine diner Audrey’s. And in February 2022, he unveiled Smith St Bistrot, featuring red leather booths, marble-topped tables and a mezzanine reached via wrought-iron spiral stairs.