New Zealand

Receivership of MediaWorks may be the move that saves the company, a former TVNZ presenter and New Zealand on Air board member Judy Callingham says, Stuff.co.nz reported. Callingham said this morning's appointment of Kordamentha, which is expected to be followed by a sale to the broadcasting company's bankers, would be frightening for staff but was necessary to manage excess debt. Brendan Gibson and Michael Stiassny of KordaMentha have been appointed by MediaWorks' senior lenders to manage a transition in ownership from private equity firm Ironbridge.

New Zealand broadcaster MediaWorks Ltd was placed in receivership on Monday after its private equity owners and bankers failed to agree on a refinancing deal, but new owners have been lined up, Reuters reported. Investors led by Australian businessman Rod McGeoch, a director of gaming company SkyCity Entertainment Group Ltd and chairman of Vantage Private Equity Ltd, are set to take over the company which operates New Zealand's TV3 and Channel 4 television networks, and a string of radio stations.

Waikato and Auckland house builder Starplus Homes is in receivership, a move guaranteed to raise the fears of dozens of creditors believed to be owed about $25 million, the Waikato Times reported. Westpac Bank appointed Corporate Finance's Andrew McKay and John Cregten as receivers yesterday afternoon, further confusing the situation around a property company failure thought to be the biggest in the Waikato since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008. Up to 140 Hamilton, Cambridge and Auckland house sites and partially completed houses may be involved.

The receivers for South Canterbury Finance have nearly finished their work and say they have recovered more than $770 million of the $1.58 billion the company owed, Radio New Zealand reported. South Canterbury Finance was placed in receivership in August 2010. The latest report from receivers Kerry Downey and William Black states all assets from the company have been realised. The receivers' report says all preferential creditors have been paid out in full, but unsecured creditors and shareholders probably won't get anything.

Voluntary administrators have been called in by the Australian fund manager in charge of a giant mortgage fund frozen since 2009 with the savings of many New Zealand investors trapped in it, Stuff.co.nz reported. The directors of LM Investment Management appointed John Park and Ginette Muller of FTI Consulting as voluntary administrators, saying the move was forced on it as a result of a smear campaign against it. LM was set up by Kiwi ex-pat businessman Peter Drake but after growing rapidly it hit trouble following the Global Financial Crisis as many of its property loans defaulted.

Most sites being worked on by Mainzeal prior to its collapse last month have now been handed back to their clients, according to receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers, The New Zealand Herald reported. Hope remains that the collapsed company's subcontractors and staff will now be re-hired to work on the various projects. Mainzeal Property and Construction, which was New Zealand's third largest construction firm, went into receivership on Waitangi Day leaving workers and subcontractors locked out of about 40 worksites.

Debtholders of Australian and New Zealand print and logistics provider Geon Group — KKR & Co. and Australia’s Allegro Funds — have placed the company into administration and subsequently made an offer to buy the business out of receivership, according to an internal memorandum seen by Deal Journal Australia. In a note to all Geon staff, Chief Executive Graham Morgan said offers for the business will be taken by receiver McGrathNicol. “I have been advised that KKR and Allegro, collectively known as KKRM, have already submitted an offer for the business,” Mr. Morgan said in the memo.

The Serious Fraud Office trial of three men associated with the collapsed firm Dominion Finance is due to begin in Auckland this morning, The New Zealand Herald reported. Dominion Finance Group and North South Finance were operating subsidiaries of the NZX-listed Dominion Finance Holdings. Both offered property and commercial loans. DFG went into receivership in September 2008, and NSF went into receivership in July 2010. DFH entered voluntary administration in October 2008 and was placed in liquidation in February 2009. It is estimated the group owes creditors $400 million.

A group representing contractors predicts some businesses will not survive Mainzeal Construction going into receivership, Radio New Zealand reported. The future of Mainzeal is unclear after the company was put in receivership on Wednesday, jeopardising the jobs of hundreds of employers as well as sub-contractors. Mainzeal is New Zealand's third largest construction firm, behind Fletcher Construction and Hawking, and has been involved in projects worth $7.5 billion throughout New Zealand since being founded in the late 1960s.

Auckland-based organic food company Pitango has been placed into receivership along with its Australian parent company, which is understood to owe millions of dollars to its creditors, Stuff.co.nz reported. Pitango, with around 25 staff, makes a range of soups, curries, risottos, sauces and pastas which are sold in supermarkets. Receivers Ferrier Hodgson said in a statement that Pitango's parent company, Gourmet Food Holdings, had been placed into receivership and that included Pitango, Australian tomato sauce firm Rosella, and Australian biscuit firm Waterwheel.