The implosion of the Du Val Group, where murmured warnings from the Financial Markets Authority spiralled over the past two years into receiverships and finally statutory management, marks the messiest and most complete business fall from grace since Allan Hubbard.
The most recent report by PwC - now responsible for 62 entities in the group either in receivership or statutory management - said that total creditors amount to $237.6 million, with the majority owed to banks and other secured creditors ($170m), but with significant amounts due to investors ($41.2m) and unsecured creditors such as building subcontractors ($18m).
According to the first statutory managers’ report prepared by PwC, the second-largest single asset held by Du Val Group - a holding company of sorts - was $15m recorded as “intellectual property”. The largest was $18.8m in “intercompany advances” - whose recovery given the ongoing administrations and the circumstances that led here is uncertain.
A report to Commerce Minister Andrew Bayly that prompted his installation of statutory managers saw the FMA state that this intellectual property deal “appears to be a suspicious transaction and does not appear to make commercial sense”.
The origins of this “asset,” according to briefings to officials from PwC, was a sale of “intellectual property” from the Clarke Trust - Keynon and Charlotte’s family trust - to Du Val Group. PwC reports the deal seems to have used vendor financing, with the loan balance owing to the trust reduced - presumably paid down - to sit at $5.5m by March 2023.
Questions to the Clarkes last week about this transaction went unanswered.
PwC also raised concerns with officials about the level of disclosure - and the lack of independent valuation provided - to investors who were asked over the past year to engage in a debt-for-equity swap in lieu of cash distributions, and over the group’s build-to-rent operations.
But outside the high-profile Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke - once the very visibly successful faces of Du Val - who else was involved in the Du Val Group?
Assembled from statutory managers’ reports, archived versions of the group’s websites, and a map sourced from professional network Linkedin, these are - or rather, were - Du Val’s key players:
Kenyon Clarke is, according to PwC, the key figure at Du Val. In its report to the High Court recommending statutory management, receivers said that: “Central to control of the Du Val Group over most of its existence has been John Kenyon Clarke either through directorship and management positions.” Kenyon is the director of 45 group entities now under statutory management. He was said to have founded the reborn Du Val in 2013 and served as chief executive until late last year when he handed the reins over to his wife Charlotte. His earlier experience in property development, building studio apartments in Hamilton, ended in 2008 with receivership and $50m owed and his own bankruptcy. Once bankruptcy restrictions expired Kenyon re-emerged as the chief executive of a new iteration of Du Val, taking over the trading name and web domain once used by his father Peter. The rest - as they say - is history.
Charlotte Clarke is the wife of Keynon and the couple were married in 2009. She served as chief operating officer of Du Val Group from January 2014, assuming the chief executive role from her husband in October 2023. She had previously worked as a property valuer and in property development. Her social media feed is full of well-groomed pictures and inspirational posts promoting female empowerment and personal growth. In early 2023 she wrote: “Don’t give up on your business just because things got too tough … Whatever you’re facing today, will be old news soon which you should keep in mind as you work through it. There isn’t a business in the world that doesn’t face daily challenges.” She is the director of two group entities in statutory management.
Owen Culliney is the founder of Hamilton law firm iCLAW, and until very recently had been at the heart of Du Val governance. Earlier this year he was described by the group as its “director and trustee”. He resigned from his director roles on August 21 - two weeks after the FMA appointed receivers. Twenty-two entities of which he was a director are now in statutory management. PwC’s report to the High Court noted they had yet to talk to Culliney as he was said to be overseas. His law firm’s website says “clients love him because of his ability to get to the heart of an issue and provide strategic solutions.”
John Dalzell gained civic prominence in the early 2010s after heading Waterfront Auckland and later became interim chief executive of Auckland CCO Panuku. Since 2016 he has run his own Silk Road Management development advisory firm and has also been - since 2013 - a director of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (NZ). He became chairman of the Du Val Property Group in March, having earlier been managing director of its build-to-rent operations, but resigned on September 4 two weeks after the appointment of statutory managers.
Mark Robinson is a director of four Du Val entities in statutory management and has worked with the group since 2017. His barebones CV on LinkedIn lists farm consultancy as his prior - and current - experience, and he has qualified as a sixth-degree black belt in Japanese martial art Kenpō.
Che Desmond joined Du Val in January 2021 from Melbourne where he had worked in apartment building operations, taking on the role of head of building, facility and property management reporting to the chief executive. On appointment receivers said they were in discussions with Desmond “as he leads the property management team”. He remains a director of Du Val BTR GP, an entity now in statutory management, that was developing townhouses for investors in Māngere and Mt Roskill. He describes himself on his LinkedIn profile as a “passionate, positive and motivated leader with over 20 years’ experience in leadership roles delivering operational, revenue and commercial strategies for business growth and profitability”.
Kristen Holland joined Du Val in 2018 and earlier this year was billed as managing director of Du Val Construction. He described his role with the group as “to head up a team to action all financial and operational functions for the company-wide development portfolio to ensure the profitability, brand and all other business objectives are attained”. He resigned from the group in February, with 14 entities he had served on the board of now in statutory management. From England originally, he worked as a quantity surveyor before moving to Auckland for a commercial manager job with Fletcher Construction in 2017.
Receivers and statutory managers PwC have prepared a number of reports during their administrations, including publishing an organisational chart of the Du Val Group. The following individuals held senior jobs that reported directly to the chief executive, or - in the case of Dr Mark Long - were named by PwC as assisting their administration.
Glen Williams is, according to archived web pages at least, a link between the early and late iterations of Du Val. The 2010 Du Val website - with the company then run by Peter Clarke - describes Williams as a “director of Du Val Limited”. While that entity deregistered in 2014, Williams returned in 2022 to the entity now run by Kenyon, Peter’s son, where Williams had the job title of “general manager - investor relations”. In his now-deleted LinkedIn page Williams said he “consistently delivered strategic solutions and fostered relationships that drive financial success. My expertise lies in navigating the intricacies of financial markets, implementing effective risk management strategies, and enhancing customer relations to achieve organisational goals”.
Matt Gin is a chartered accountant who was described on Du Val’s website earlier this year as the “head of finance”. His LinkedIn page said he joined the group in 2020 but left the role in May 2024 - a few months before receivers, and then statutory managers, were appointed. He now works as finance manager of Avant Group. A graduate of the University of Auckland, he worked with KPMG before moving into property development.
Dr Mark Long was not a director of Du Val when receivers were appointed. He was described in PwC’s report to the High Court recommending statutory management to be a “high performance coach and observer” and was also attending meetings with receivers. The report said he had attended board meetings this year as an observer with an expectation of being appointed director that was derailed by receivership. Long runs a consultancy business and says on LinkedIn: “He is most in his happy place professionally when he is coaching, facilitating, and being the authentic engager in the room”.
Nasir Andrabi moved to New Zealand from India in early 2020 to take up a position as “national sales manager” with Du Val, and at the time statutory managers were appointed had been promoted to bear the job title “head of sales & marketing”. His LinkedIn profile notes he speaks four languages (English, Urdu, Kashmiri and Hindi) and has a background working in banks and as a food and beverage entrepreneur. He says: “From navigating complex markets to driving growth and innovation, I’ve led teams and projects to success. My journey has equipped me with a deep understanding of business dynamics and the ability to foster collaboration and drive results.”
Herbert Morton, a Hamilton accountancy firm, has had a professional relationship with Du Val dating back to at least 2019. Its Cambridge post office box was used as a company address for many group entities, and even by some investors. After statutory managers were appointed financial statements it prepared were used by disgruntled shareholders to claim that Du Val - or parts of it at least - were solvent. Statutory manager John Fisk of PwC has disputed these claims.
Matt Nippert is an Auckland-based investigations reporter covering white-collar and transnational crimes and the intersection of politics and business. He has won more than a dozen awards for his journalism - including twice being named Reporter of the Year – and joined the Herald in 2014 after having spent the decade prior reporting from business newspapers and national magazines.
