Former Blue Chip boss Mark Bryers is now a bankrupt, The New Zealand Herald reported. By his own estimation, the founder of the failed investment scheme owes a long list of creditors $173 million. Lawyers representing eight of those creditors, collectively owed $85 million, lined up before Associate Judge David Robinson in the High Court at Auckland yesterday to hear the bankruptcy adjudication. Bryers had made an eleventh hour attempt to have the proceedings adjourned by offering a proposal for repaying his debts.

Luxury New Zealand hotel and spa Hotel du Vin has been sold to Dilworth School for an undisclosed figure and is to be converted into a rural campus, The New Zealand Herald reported. The private boys' school yesterday revealed it was the winning bidder in a tender process for the hotel, which was placed in receivership in July after suffering from declining guest numbers. Dilworth Trust Board chairman Derek Firth said it would reconfigure the hotel and spa buildings to make them suitable for school use and expected to open the campus in 2012.

New Zealand emerged from its worst recession in three decades, unexpectedly expanding for the first time in six quarters on rising consumer spending and exports of logs and dairy products. The nation’s currency surged. Gross domestic product increased 0.1 percent in the three months to June 30 following a 0.8 percent drop in the first quarter, Statistics New Zealand said in Wellington today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 12 economists was for a 0.2 percent contraction. Read more.

Telecom Corp. Of New Zealand Ltd. said Thursday that structural separation isn't being considered even though the debate about its separation has been reopened by a government decision to proceed with a 1.5 billion New Zealand dollar ($1.07 billion) national broadband network, Dow Jones reported. Earlier Thursday, Telecom Chief Executive Paul Reynolds told Radio New Zealand the government decision raised questions about Telecom's operational separation into three parts last year, forced on it by the government as part of tough regulations introduced in May 2006. Mr.

OPI Pacific Finance Limited, a finance company that still owes $257 million to small investors, has been placed in receivership by its trustee, The New Zealand Herald reported. Perpetual Trust, acting for OPI's debenture holders and unsecured noteholders has appointed Colin McCloy and Maurice Noone of PricewaterhouseCoopers as receivers. OPI has been in a moratorium since May last year. OPI's secured debenture holders have so far been repaid 22.17 cents in each dollar they were owed, while the unsecured note holders have not got anything.

Three companies connected with Christchurch developer David Henderson have been put into liquidation at the High Court in Christchurch, The National Business Review reported. Associate Judge Rob Osbourne has granted applications to liquidate Montecristo Construction Ltd, Te Anau Ventures Ltd and Tomanovich Holdings over debts amounting to about $900,000 (excluding costs) owed to March Construction Ltd.

Investors in a finance company chaired by former New Zealand Finance Minister Ruth Richardson are being told not to expect all their money back. The IMP Diversified Income Fund entered into a moratorium agreement with investors in June last year promising to make a full repayment to debenture holders. The company owed $16.5 million to debenture and capital noteholders at the time, and has since paid back 40c in the dollar.

Failed property financier Strategic Finance has reported an audited annual loss of NZ$175 million for the year to June 30, just six weeks after predicting a full year loss of NZ$98 million, The New Zealand Herald reported.

DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and Julius Baer Holding AG are among potential buyers of ING Groep NV’s private banking operations, three people familiar with the matter said. Amsterdam-based ING, the biggest Dutch financial-services company, is seeking at least $1.8 billion for the assets, two of the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity, Bloomberg reported. DBS, ANZ Bank and Julius Baer are among companies picked by ING to enter final bidding for its Asian and Swiss private banking units as early as next week, they said.

The company developing the $300 million Fiji Beach Resort & Spa managed by Hilton says it is on the verge of going into receivership, The New Zealand Herald reported. Neville Mahon, Auckland-based developer of the huge luxury property, has written to villa owners saying receivership of Denarau Investments is imminent. Bank Of Scotland (BoS) and Auckland finance company Strategic had funded the project. Mahon says he has been unable to pay dozens of investors who bought villas at his Hilton Denarau Island project, planned to be eventually expanded and called Fiji Hilton.