Anne Gibson: NZ Herald property editor on Du Val Group being placed into statutory management

The Government has moved on Auckland apartment developer Du Val Group, taking the rare step of placing it in statutory management.

The move follows the group of companies being placed in interim receivership on August 2 after an application by the Financial Markets Authority.

NZ Herald property editor Anne Gibson says investigations are still ongoing.

"We don't really know what's going on here - we know that it is complex and serious." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:17):
Property developer Duval Group has been placed in statutory management,
which is a pretty unusual move by the government. In fact,
it's so unusual the Governor General has to sign off
it and sign off on it and Gibson is The
Herald's property editor and with us hey Ann Hey Heather
now the Minister when signing off on this himself says
that part of it is to stop the liquidators quarreling
with each other over various parts of the business. But

(00:39):
it's got to be more than that, right, m.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Very good question. We don't really know because we don't
have access to the initial Receivers and Managers report which
PwC handed to the High Court at Hamilton last Friday.
So that was a bit of a lightning world for
publicity on develop We all thought that in the media

(01:02):
that we might get a copy of that report, but
in fact gone to PwC and to the if he
may and saw the copy of that report and asked
the Minister for it as well, and it hasn't been released,
so we don't really know what's going on here. We
know that it is complex and serious.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
What would be the reason for them sitting on it
and not releasing it?

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Don't know and neither does a minister. So I said
to Andrew Bailey, have you seen the pw C report?
And he said he certainly had significant advice from the
Financial Markets Authority and making a decision like this, which
was to take it to cabinet and he said yes,
he had access to information. I asked him how worried

(01:45):
was he is a minister when he read that report
and he said, as a result, he made the recommendation
to Cabinet that they pass this quite unusual thing order
in council, as you say, signed off by the Governor General,
based on the advice that he received.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Today he says he's concerned about the Devile Group because
of allegations of misconduct. Are those allegations in the past
or are those allegations currently.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Well, he said it's obviously serious enough for him to
take the recommendation and seek the cabinet approval. And he
said what the Cabinet was keen on doing was protecting
the interests of all creditors. Now, he said, there are
a number of developments. There's property developments in Auckland, mainly
apartments in South Auckland and maybe West Auckland too, and
he wanted to ensure where possible that those were completed.

(02:37):
And his words were, you don't go on a journey
like this without significant concerns.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Okay, Are Kenyon Clark and his wife speaking.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
No.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
I've been putting questions to them since the FMA moved
on them on the second and the police were at
their house as well. I've been putting questions to Charlotte
and Kenyon Clark, to the chairman of Duval, John Dalzel,
and to Owen Culiny, who is a director of the
company and a lawyer based in the White Catto, and

(03:11):
we haven't had any response at all, and it may
be that they cannot talk given the fact that there
are interim receivers, managers and now statutory managers involved in
the So this is highly unusual because the last time
I could find that something like this occurred was fourteen
years ago. Were the couple of entities of South Canterbury

(03:32):
Finance right?

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah? Okay, that was a big deal. Hey, and thank
you very much, really appreciated. Anne Gibson the Herald's property editor.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
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