Breaking: Lenders pull out of Bathla group as construction work halts across sites

Administrators of failed property developer Bathla have reduced staff down to a "skeleton" and will cease construction work after all but one lender decided not to continue propping up the company.Only a core team will be retained to support the ongoing administration, with administrators Teneo working with lenders on the orderly sale of Bathla's subdivision and land-bank sites.Support for sales and settlements will also cease."Discussions with lenders for further funding have now concluded," administrators said in a statement.Administrators say Bathla Group has exhausted all its funding. (ABC News: John Gunn)Administrators had initially secured a short-term funding deal from six lenders to continue on 13 of those lenders' construction projects.They said that funding had now been "exhausted".All other construction projects were suspended while 213 staff were stood down at the beginning of September in the wake of the deal.The group had around 350 employees to begin with."We understand some lenders may want to discuss with us support and assistance for some projects," administrators said to lenders in correspondence seen by the ABC."While we are happy to assist where we are funded and have the resources available, these discussions will need to wait until next week as we have quite a bit of work to do today and tomorrow to cease operations, secure sites and stand down the workforce."