New Zealand

Lombard Finance and Investments' receiver has advised of a further payment to investors and is sticking to an estimate of a final payout in the 15 to 24 per cent range, The New Zealand Herald reported. Secured debenture holders received 6.5c in the dollar last December. A further three cents in the dollar would be paid on Thursday or close to that date, the receiver PricewaterhouseCooper said. The receivers said the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) had yet to finalise its claims in the receiverships.

Christchurch developer David Henderson has been granted a stay to fight a court order to liquidate his flagship company, Property Ventures, BusinessDay.co.nz reported. The company, of which Henderson is a director, owes Inland Revenue at least $88,734 in tax, which it failed to pay between September 2008 and February 2010.

The poolside villas, the beachfront location, the warm tropical air - it should be paradise. But for 240 investors in the Hilton on Fiji's Denarau Island, the past 18 months have been more like purgatory. Some forced to mortgagee sale would probably describe it as hell, The New Zealand Herald reported. Now the trouble in paradise has escalated to the point where owners are about to put padlocks on their villas, potentially disrupting the holiday plans of hundreds at the peak of Fiji's tourism season.

Trade finisher Fastfold will be "a force to be reckoned with" after being brought out of receivership by new owners, ProPrint reported. Grant Allen, manager of the Auckland-based firm, said the response from clients since Fastfold's re-opening had given strong reason to believe the company had "a bright future". "The economy is slowly starting to come out of its recession. So, if you can get in on the ground floor now, you have a strong chance of doing well," added Allen.

The number of bankruptcies recorded against debt managed by collection agency Baycorp has fallen sharply since the introduction of the no assets procedure (NAP) last year, The National Business Review reported. At the same time, the amount of legal action pursued by Baycorp in an effort to recover money owed to creditors has risen. The agency today said nearly 1300 bankruptcies were recorded against debt it managed in the first half of this year. Last year there were 6000.

Westpac has extended for another six months a $19 million loan facility to troubled finance and rural services firm Allied Farmers, The National Business Review reported. The move follows Allied’s announcement last week that it had negotiated the sale of a 23.3ha property forming part of the Five Mile development near Queenstown. Allied had already gained an extension of the debt facility with Westpac to September 24 this year, from an initial expiry date of June 30. The latest extension runs until the end of March next year.

Some wineries based in New Zealand's celebrated Marlborough region have gone into receivership, with more expected to follow, as the area's popular sauvignon blanc has been hit by a high New Zealand dollar, oversupply and early signs of a resurgence by Australian chardonnay, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Nelson businessmen behind failed financier Finance & Investments are now under the watch of the Securities Commission, having agreed they won’t manage a company or raise money publicly in the future, The National Business Review reported. The Securities Commission has accepted enforceable undertakings from Andrew Harding and Murray Scholfield - the partners of Finance & Investments, which went into receivership in September 2007, owing $16 billion to 370 investors. The pair also had an 87% stake in Nelson financier LDC Finance -- also in receivership.

Finance company minnow Mutual Finance has collapsed into receivership owing $9.3 million of mostly Crown guaranteed funds to 340 depositors, The National Business Review reported. The receivership follows that of sister company Viaduct Capital and comes three months after Strategic Finance founder Paul Bublitz took control of Mutual with an 80% shareholding. Mutual’s trustee company Covenant has appointed Grant Graham and Brendon Gibson of KordaMentha as receivers.

Receivers for National Finance 2000 could be ordered to provide its directors with information to help with their defence against charges laid by the Companies Office, a court heard yesterday, The New Zealand Herald reported. In 2008, the Companies Office laid criminal charges against the directors that relate to alleged untrue statements in the company's registered prospectus and failure to comply with financial reporting standards.