Qintex Ltd. was an Australian company that came to prominence during the 1980s, until its collapse in 1989. Its main shareholder and Managing Director was Christopher Skase

Christopher Skase

Christopher Charles Skase 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 in Spain.-Early life:...

.

At its peak, Qintex owned interests in the Australian Television Network (Channel 7)

Seven Network

The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

, Mirage Resorts, Hardy Bros. jewellery retail concern and a number of other businesses.

Its headquarters was in Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

History

Christopher Skase and his partners established a company in 1975 that subsequently gained control of Qintex.

He 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 TVQ

TVQ

TVQ is the Brisbane television station of Network Ten in Australia.TVQ may also refer to:* TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting, a television station in Fukuoka, Japan...

-0, a Brisbane television station. Later Qintex purchased HSV-7 and ATN

ATN

-Medicine:*Acute tubular necrosis, a medical condition involving the death of tubular cells that form the tubule that transports urine to the ureters*Asymmetric tonic neck reflex*Atypical trigeminal neuralgia-Television:...

-7 from John Fairfax

John Fairfax

John Fairfax , English-born journalist, is notable for the incorporation of the major newspapers of modern day Australia.-Early life:...

.

In 1989, the company was struggling to meet interest payments and sold a share in their Mirage Resorts

Mirage Resorts

Mirage Resorts was an American corporation that owned and operated hotel-casinos. It was created in 1989, having previously been called Golden Nugget Companies...

 for in excess of $433 million.

Collapse

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 the late 1980s. When the company missed interest payments and was not able to renegotiate its position with the Commonwealth Bank, the bank appointed a receiver to the company.