Former Hanover director Mark Hotchin has had his New Zealand assets frozen by order of the High Court, on application from the Securities Commission, The National Business Review reported. A Securities Commission statement said the application was granted without notice to Mr Hotchin on Friday. Mr Hotchin intended to apply to revoke these orders, the statement said. A hearing is expected in February 2011.

The lawyer for controversial businesswoman May Wang was back in court today seeking to have her bankruptcy suspended ahead of her fight to have it revoked, The New Zealand Herald reported. Wang, the front person for a group of Chinese investors seeking to buy $1.5 billion of New Zealand dairy farms, was last week ruled bankrupt at the High Court in Auckland. The court also turned down a proposal to repay 6c in the dollar to creditors who were owed $22 million following the collapse of Wang's hotel and property business Dynasty Group.

The New Zealand company that operates the coal mine where 29 miners died in a series of explosions last month said Monday it has been placed into receivership, Bloomberg reported on an Associated Press story. Pike River Coal Ltd chairman John Dow said that the largest shareholder, NZ Oil & Gas, appointed accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers as receivers. The coal miner is expected to announce mass redundancies on Tuesday among its 180-strong work force. The first major methane-fueled explosion ripped through the mine on Nov.

The Serious Fraud Office has arrested and laid six Crimes Act charges against one current and one former director of failed finance company Capital + Merchant in relation to $14.5 million worth of related party lending dating back to 2002, BusinessDay.co.nz reported. The two men charged at Neal Nicholls and Wayne Douglas, the founding directors and beneficial owners of the company which went into receivership in November 207 owing 7000 investors $167 million. Nicholls remained as a director until the company went under but Douglas had resigned a few months earlier in February of that year.

May Wang is set to appeal a bankruptcy ruling over a $22 million debt, while the company she is fronting considers whether it will proceed with its bid to purchase the Crafar farms, The New Zealand Herald reported. Ms Wang lost her year-long battle with Westpac at the High Court at Auckland yesterday, leaving the future of the deal between Hong Kong-listed company Natural Dairy and the New Zealand-based UBNZ group hanging in the balance. Ms Wang is the director and sole shareholder of UBNZ's trustee.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will make an arrest tomorrow in a case that involves tens of millions of dollars of investor losses, The National Business Review reported. News of the arrest came as SFO chief executive Adam Feeley appeared before Parliament's Law and Order select committee. Asked to explain how the SFO pursues its investigations and uses other organisations and contractors, he dramatically gave the arrest tomorrow as an example.

Government-guaranteed finance company Equitable Mortgages called in receivers Friday, The New Zealand Herald reported. The Auckland-based financial institution has around 6000 depositors and approximately $178 million in Crown-guaranteed deposits. Eligible depositors with Equitable Mortgages can claim repayment from the Crown, Treasury's deputy secretary of financial operations Phil Combes said yesterday.

Grain company Keith Seeds has sold its assets to NZ company PGG Wrightson and entered voluntary administration, AdelaideNow reported on a story in The Advertiser. The company has an estimated $7 million in debt. PGG told the New Zealand stock exchange yesterday it completed the purchase of the assets of Keith Seeds on Monday, for an undisclosed sum. The company will use Keith Seeds as a base to expand its existing South Australian operations. But the transaction could leave an estimated 200 suppliers out of pocket by $7 million, with no assets against which to claim.

Andrew Krukziener’s date with creditors has arrived. The Auckland developer, $47 million in debt, is expected to give evidence at the High Court at Auckland as he seeks to avert bankruptcy, The National Business Review reported. The hearing began yesterday when the court heard details of his proposal to repay creditors $350,000 in instalments over four-and-a-half years. The IRD, which claims it is owed $6.67 million by Krukziener, is opposing the proposal and wants to press ahead to have him declared bankrupt. Eighteen other creditors have accepted the proposal.

Allied Farmers has fired a broadside at Hanover Finance owners Mark Hotchin and Eric Watson after receivers were appointed today to Matarangi Beach Estates, a Coromandel property development company it acquired in a swap deal with Hanover last December, BusinessDay.co.nz reported. In an announcement to the stock exchange today Allied said it had been unable to strike a deal with lender HSBC, owed $19 million by Matarangi Beach Estates, and had therefore appointed receiver Korda Mentha.