Hundreds of jobs at stake in bus maker receivership

Designline's factory. File photo

Hundreds of jobs are at risk with the announcement Canterbury bus maker Designline International has been placed in liquidation, a union leader says.

The High Court at Christchurch yesterday appointed the Official Assignee as liquidator after applications by two creditors owed more than $1.8 million between them, The Press reported.

Justice Venning said Designline was clearly insolvent. While it was paying current debts it was not paying past obligations.

The court declined an appeal to adjourn the decision for two weeks while a possible sale to Malaysian interests was negotiated. It was told 500 employees were at stake and Designline's debt could be as high as $10 million.

Designline International employs around 100 people, but EPMU assistant national secretary Ged O'Connell believed the number of people affected could be three times that.

He told Newstalk ZB there will be a number of people around the community who supply Designline with parts or goods and services who will be affected.

Selwyn District Mayor Kelvin Coe told Radio New Zealand he was "naturally disappointed" the company is being liquidated.

"We know they have been struggling for a while," he said.

Mr Coe was confident there would be other job opportunities in Rolleston for workers who lose their jobs and said the region has had strong development, before and after the Canterbury earthquakes.

The council has been leasing the Rolleston building to Designline and does not have another tenant lined up, Mr Coe said.

Designline was founded in Ashburton in 1986. It was bought in 2006 by the Glosson family of North Carolina who embarked on a large expansion setting up a factory capable of building 300 buses a year in Charlotte, North Carolina and shifting Designline to a new base at Rolleston, 20km south of Christchurch.

- Herald Online, Newstalk ZB, NZPA