Heartland Bank has recently repossessed heavy machinery from the business. Photo / Alex Cairns
Heartland Bank has recently repossessed heavy machinery from the business. Photo / Alex Cairns
Former directors of the liquidated Albany earthmoving company Landwork Civil withdrew funds from the company account and left the country as they transferred shares, liquidators have revealed.
The business, which went into liquidation in May 2024, provided earthmoving and excavation services for residential and commercial clients.
Waterstone liquidatorsDamien Grant and Adam Botterill, who were appointed to the business, have revealed in their second report that a sale and purchase agreement was finalised in late 2023 to transfer 90% of the shares from Yu Li, the director at the time, to Nicholas Ashurst.
This was formalised in February 2024, when Ashurst became the sole director and largest shareholder. The business was run by its former directors from April 2020.
However, Grant and Botterill said further inquiries clarified Yu Li was not the true manager of Landwork Civil, and was rather the signee for her partner Zhe Qin, the company’s acting director.
Liquidators have, however, identified property owned by Li in New Zealand, and have obtained a court-issued charging order over the property in question “to bar the property being transferred or sold while we progress the claim”.
Grant and Botterill have also prepared and filed proceedings against the former director for a breach of duties, engaged a creditor for a funding arrangement, and settled a voidable transaction with a creditor of the company.
Heartland Bank elected to recover its property subject to charge and not claim in the liquidation Photo / Google Maps
Creditors owed
More has also been revealed as to how much the company owes, with Grant and Botterill reporting the business has a current deficit of $1,603,450.97.
As of the date of preparing the report, liquidators received seven preferential claims totalling $144,557, eight secured claims totalling $449,140, and a further 31 unsecured claims totalling $1,345,254.
Of the preferential claims, $51,785.99 is owed to staff, who said in extensive discussions with liquidators during the first liquidators report that the business was “run in an unorthodox manner that may have contributed to its insolvency”.
The business also owes Inland Revenue $115,472.07, a figure which has almost doubled since the liquidators’ initial report.
The largest secured creditor, Heartland Bank, which listed motor vehicles as collateral, recently repossessed heavy machinery from the business.
The equipment recovered included a 2021 Sany excavator, a 2019 Cat excavator, a Case bulldozer, a Shacman truck and two Isuzu vehicles.
According to the latest report, Heartland elected to recover its property subject to charge and not claim in the liquidation (total claim $928,253.38).
Grant and Botterill were unable to estimate whether there will be a distribution to any class of creditor, nor when to expect the completion of the liquidation.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail.
