The receiver of Lombard Finance & Investments is at loggerheads with the Inland Revenue Department over a $4.5 million tax bill relating to the sale of a building before the failed lender was wound up, Business Day reported. PricewaterhouseCoopers' John Fisk said the transaction pre-dated the receivership and involved a property being sold to a purchaser financed by Lombard. The tax department is claiming the transaction was a mortgagee sale, which means the tax liability would remain with Lombard. "The evidence we have and the tax advice we've had clearly has the seller as a borrower.

Liquidators have been unable to recover any money following the failed multimillion-dollar Walter Peak development, Business Day reported on a Southland Times story. Roderick Nielsen, his brother Greg and another director, Justin Russell, of London, were behind several developments in Queenstown, including the planned $50million Walter Peak project. Rod Nielsen, who bought Walter Peak land for $10m in 2006 and planned to build a luxury lodge, homesteads and cottages, was adjudicated bankrupt in 2009. The company is in liquidation and receivership.

Hanover Finance's loan to Fijian resort Vatulele has proved disastrous for Allied Farmers with ASB Bank calling in the receivers, The New Zealand Herald reported. The multimillion-dollar loan on the resort, a popular winter destination for New Zealanders and Australians, has been in default for more than two years. ASB, which lent to the project, pulled the plug last week. An Allied Farmers subsidiary is the second secured lender after ASB.

Prospects of any returns for unsecured creditors owed $556,000 from failed Auckland finance company Dominion Finance Group remain dismal, according to the latest liquidators' report, and it's not so great for secured creditors either, BusinessDay.co.nz reported. Dominion Finance was put into receivership in September 2008 owing about $176.9 million to more than 5900 investors. It was put into liquidation by the High Court at Auckland in May the next year. The Securities Commission laid criminal charges and filed civil suits a year ago against the group's directors.

Auckland property developer David Henderson has been declared bankrupt by an order made in Auckland's High Court, The National Business Review reported. The office of Mr Henderson's lawyer, Daniel Grove, said the order was made in judgment by Associate Judge David Abbott issued yesterday at 5pm. The judgment ends Mr Henderson's long-running battle against the IRD, which is owed $3.6 million. Proposals by Mr Henderson to repay 4 cents in the dollar to creditors owed $130 million had dragged proceedings over recent months, but last night they were apparently rejected by creditors.

Overseas buyers are lining up to take control of one of the largest online exporters of NZ-made consumer goods after the company was tipped into liquidation, Business Day reported. New Zealand Global Ltd, which sells a wide range of locally made products to consumers around the world via its shopnewzealand.co.nz website, has been put on the market by liquidator Gareth Hoole of Staples Rodway, who said he hoped to have a sale finalised as early as this week. Hoole said a number of potential buyers had shown interest in the business and most were based in China or Malaysia.

Creditors of Rolleston-based bus-maker Design Line were successful in placing the company into liquidation today, The National Business Review reported. Two creditors – Lyasight and ENI Engineering –advertised the liquidation petitions. The company had obtained several delays to allow it time to find purchasers but to no avail. The overall debt is estimated as around $10 million. The company makes buses that are used in many countries. It employs about 500 people.

Workers at Whitcoulls and Borders bookstores have been forced to sign new contracts under duress, unions say. New Zealand-owned James Pascoe Group bought 57 Whitcoulls and five Borders stores for an undisclosed sum last week after the Australian-based owner REDgroup put itself into voluntary administration in February, Radio New Zealand reported. James Pascoe Group is a retail business owned by David and Anne Norman that employs 9000 staff throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Each new twist in Terry Serepisos' tortuous financial affairs could be putting his chances of a US$100 million rescue package at risk, Business Day reported. Two companies owned by Mr Serepisos were put into receivership yesterday, owing about $13m. Documents relating to bankruptcy action taken against him by FM Custodians, heard in the High Court at Wellington this month, suggest that a US$100m loan negotiated with Western Gulf Advisory can be altered whenever his financial circumstances change.

Self-described real estate king Don Ha is back running his former real estate and property management company that tipped into receivership in March, with $7 million in debt owed to Kiwibank, BusinessDay reported. Top One - a company owned by his family and friends and which he is a director of - were the successful bidders for buying the Manukau real estate agency from the receivers for $1.35m and it is now thought to be operating under the Rental One brand.