Three of the four NZ-registered companies associated with IT services company DataSouth have been placed in liquidation, The National Business Review reported. A fourth, DataSouth Finance is now subject to a Serious Fraud Office investigation, revealed by the agency late Friday. The investigation relates to lease deals with DataSouth Clients, bankrolled by South Canterbury Finance.

Princes Wharf developer David Henderson averted bankruptcy this morning to allow him and his creditors time to discuss another proposal that could stop Inland Revenue's application, The New Zealand Herald reported. High Court Associate Judge Jeremy Doogue adjourned IRD's application to bankrupt Henderson to April 19, to allow Henderson's creditors to vote on a new proposal. The meeting is expected to be held within the next 10 working days. IRD lawyer Nick Malarao said the commissioner opposed the adjournment, stating it was in public interest that Henderson be bankrupted.

Don Ha Real Estate, a Ray White Group franchise, has been placed in receivership. Don Ha is a former NBR Rich Lister and horse trader, The National Business Review reported. The extent of the company's financial woes will be revealed on May 20 in the first receiver's report. Ray White chief executive Carey Smith said receivers Grant Thornton had requested, and would receive, Ray White’s support in the receivership process.

The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into failed insurance broker Herbert Insurance Group, which was placed in receivership this month, The New Zealand Herald reported. SFO Director, Adam Feeley, said the office was investigating concerns about an apparent shortfall in the group's account, which hold clients' premiums. Feeley said the SFO was working closely with receivers, Korda Mentha, to identify all information relevant to the investigation. Herbert Insurance Group's client base of about 4000 has been sold to Aon New Zealand.

Ferrier Hodgson, voluntary administrators for Whitcoulls' parent, REDgroup, yesterday sought High Court approval to extend the time available to consider its options, The New Zealand Herald reported. Under the voluntary administration rules, a so-called "watershed" meeting, where creditors are advised of the state of play with the company, needs to be held five weeks after the appointment of a voluntary administrator, which would have made it March 24.

On Thursday, Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard cut the official cash rate to 2.5% from 3%. But the cut, which was widely anticipated following the Christchurch earthquake last month, may be a relatively short-lived one, The National Business Review reported. The Reserve Bank’s forecasts accompanying the decision suggest the economic recovery has been pushed back to the latter part of 2011 but also highlight increased inflationary pressures compared to the previous outlook.

Confidence in the economy has fallen to a two-year low after the Christchurch earthquake, according to the monthly BNZ Confidence Survey, The National Business Review reported. A net 20% of the 456 respondents to the survey expect the economy to get worse over the coming year. This was down from a net 22% expecting improvement in the early February survey and 35% expressing net positive sentiment 12 months ago. It was the worst result since March 2009, when a net 23.2% of respondents expected the economy to get worse.

No New Zealand bookstores will be closed as part of the initial phase of Redgroup Retail’s restructuring, administrators Ferrier Hodgson said today, The National Business Review reported. As a result, there are no redundancies planned in New Zealand as part of this restructure. Redgroup, owned by private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners, has 76 Whitcoulls, five Borders and nine Benetts bookstores in New Zealand. While this is good news for New Zealand Redgroup staff, their Australian counterparts aren’t so lucky.

Unsecured creditors in this country of Australian company Redgroup Retail, whose activities include 90 book stores in New Zealand, were owed $21.5 million when the company went into voluntary administration a fortnight ago, The National Business Review reported. In a presentation to a meeting of New Zealand creditors in Auckland yesterday, administrators Ferrier Hodgson also said entitlements of employees in this country at the time had been $2.1m, with the company having 1171 New Zealand staff.

Administrators of the Australian parent company of New Zealand bookseller Whitcoulls are beginning preparations for a first meeting of creditors, The National Business Review reported. REDgroup Retail is the parent company of Australasian book chains Borders and Whitcoulls, which were put in administration yesterday. REDgroup -- which manages operations in both countries -- called in voluntary administrators, Ferrier Hodgson. REDGroup is controlled by private equity group PEP.