Liquidator sheets home $19m in liabilities to Mainzeal offshoot

A building façade supplier linked to the collapsed construction company Mainzeal Property and Construction had racked up total liabilities of $18.9 million, according to the first liquidators’ report.

King Façade, a company with links to a joint venture between elements of the Richina group of companies, which owns Mainzeal, was apparently being funded by Mainzeal and “had recorded substantial losses.”

Supply chain issues with a Chinese manufacturer, understood to be the Shenzhen, China-based King Façade Decoration Engineering Company, were cited in early statements regarding to the Mainzeal receivership.

The preliminary report lists a total of 104 identified creditors for King Façade, and provides a basic account of its financial position showing total liabilities of $18.98 million, offset by total assets of $4.465 million.

The majority of this is $5.79 million of value ascribed to Richina Global Real Estate, King Façade’s 100 percent shareholder, and one of a web of companies controlled by Auckland businessman Richard Yan.

Work in progress is noted as a negative asset valued at $2.68 million. The report says King Façade was involved in three significant Auckland property developments when it was placed in liquidation on Feb. 13.

One was for Manukau Institute of Technology and two were remedial works on residential apartments in Auckland – Hobson Gardens and Argent Hall. The cost of fixing so-called “leaky buildings” was also cited as a key reason for Mainzeal’s collapse into receivership early this month.

The liquidators said they are still trying to work out the relationship between another similarly named company, King Façade NZ, and the company now in liquidation. King Façade NZ appeared to be a joint venture between Richina Global Real Estate (50 percent), Shenzhen King Façade (30 percent) and Pacificflag (20 percent).

However, Mainzeal Property and Construction appeared to have funded King Façade’s losses, said liquidators Brian Mayo-Smith, Andrew Bethell and Stephen Tubbs, of accounting firm BDO.

Meanwhile, the Registrar of Companies is currently making enquiries into why Mainzeal and Richina group companies, which have significant foreign ownership, have not filed accounts with the Companies Office since 2007/08, when Richina delisted from the NZX.

“Recent company amalgamations and restructures (resulting at times in a change of ownership) add some complexity and it is premature to advise the Registrar’s final view at this time,” a spokesman for the company said.

(BusinessDesk)