New Zealand

New Zealand's debt-laden state-owned coal mining company Solid Energy Ltd was put into administration on Thursday to ward off its creditors as it looks to organise a sale of assets. The government refused to pump in any more money to support the company, which has been crippled by a slump in prices and demand, amassing a mountain of debt. "It is no secret that Solid Energy has faced significant financial hurdles - both from the falling international coal price and its debt burden," Finance Minister Bill English said in a statement.

New Zealand's debt-laden state-owned coal mining company Solid Energy Ltd was put into administration on Thursday to ward off its creditors as it looks to organise a sale of assets. The government refused to pump in any more money to support the company, which has been crippled by a slump in prices and demand, amassing a mountain of debt. "It is no secret that Solid Energy has faced significant financial hurdles - both from the falling international coal price and its debt burden," Finance Minister Bill English said in a statement.

Solid Energy has confirmed it is going into voluntary administration, Stuff.co.nz reported. The state-owned coal company met staff at various sites including the West Coast, Southland and Waikato on Thursday morning, before confirming the news to media in Christchurch at midday. On Thursday, acting chairman Andy Coupe said the board had been considering options since last year due to the "significant" challenges the company was facing. He acknowledged the "very substantial effort" all employees had made over the past few years, but it had not been enough.

The number of people going bankrupt has ticked up for the first time since 2009 when fallout from the global financial crisis reached its peak, The New Zealand Herald reported. Figures from the Insolvency and Trustee Services show 1979 people went bankrupt in the year to June 30, up from 1921 the previous year. The increase is small but it is a change in direction from the past five years where numbers have steadily fallen from the 3054 people who went bankrupt in the year to June 30, 2010.

The receivers for Doug Somers-Edgar's Orange Finance have concluded their work with a shortfall of about $10 million in principal and interest owed to debenture holders of the failed company, Scoop.co.nz reported. Orange froze repayments to some 2,500 investors owed $25.6 million in late 2008 before convincing debenture holders to agree to a moratorium on redemptions and interest payments until the end of July 2011. That deadline was later pushed out another year with trustee Covenant Trustee's approval.

A Christchurch-based investment company at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office and Financial Markets Authority probe has been placed in receivership, Stuff.co.nz reported. The development will be bad news for hundreds of nervous investors in the company, Arena Capital, a foreign exchange brokerage trading as BlackfortFX. Auckland accountant Alan Garrett, a liquidator at KordaMentha, has been appointed receiver. The assets of the company were frozen by the Financial Markets Authority last week over concerns the company was breaching regulations and the Serious Fraud Office is investigating.

NZF Group, the former financial services company, has entered voluntary administration after its second reverse listing proposal fell through, Scoop.co.nz reported. Last month the Auckland-based finance company said it would look to find a way to return funds to its noteholders "in a timely and cost effective manner" after plans for its listed shell to be used by Inventory Technologies in a reverse listing fell through. NZF is now appointing administrators to "expedite a timely distribution of funds to the holders of NZF capital notes," it said in a statement.

Small business owners, particularly in the construction industry, should be breathing a sigh of relief this week. The Supreme Court has delivered a decision which upholds their rights to keep payments made by companies which subsequently go into liquidation, against demands from liquidators to "claw back" the money so that it can be used to satisfy the claims of other creditors of the insolvent company, The New Zealand Herald reported.

Wellington-based aviation company Vincent Aviation, which has about 30 workers, has gone into receivership, Stuff.co.nz reported. In a public notice released today, Stephen Tubbs from BDO was appointed receiver of the company, which was established in 1990 and is based at Wellington Airport. The move comes after an application to liquidate the company was lodged last week lodged in the High Court by ANCL Investments. Owner Peter Vincent said last week that the action taken by ANCL Investments was a "serious situation" for his company.

Well-known helicopter company Helipro has put itself into receivership, Stuff.co.nz reported. Helipro employs about 70 staff, with eight bases throughout New Zealand and operations in Fiji and Australia. As well as commercial and tourism helicopter flights, the company provides maintenance services, and helicopter and fixed-wing flight training. PwC partners John Fisk and David Bridgeman were appointed as receivers yesterday to Rick Lucas Helicopters Ltd and related entities which trade as Helipro, at the request of the companies' director.