KEY POINTS:
Blue Chip co-founder Mark Bryers is back in business in Australia, marketing his trademark property investment scheme on a website that looks remarkably like the old Blue Chip site.
So similar is the Barkley Walsh site that it actually refers to Blue Chip - apparently inadvertently - in at least two places.
Sydney property investment company Barkley Walsh says it is a subsidiary of ASX-listed Northern Crest Investments. Northern Crest was previously called Blue Chip Financial Solutions and is the parent company of many of the Blue Chip-related companies in liquidation in this country. Trading in its shares has been suspended since February.
According to Australian Securities and Investments Commission records, Barkley Walsh was registered in Sydney on March 28 this year. The company says it selects investment properties for clients, guarantees the rental income for up to nine years, and pays for repairs and maintenance for the first five years.
"Barkley Walsh is unique as we are an investment company, not a property developer - making us the first company to adopt a funds management approach to direct property ownership," it says.
Under "What We Do", the website says: "At Blue Chip we structure your investment to maximise tax efficiencies and smooth your cash flow. So you can reach your ultimate goal of maximising returns, through both capital growth and income returns."
Under the "Contact Us" heading, the online form asks: "Where did you hear about Blue Chip?"
Barkley Walsh shares the same Sydney office address and phone number as Northern Crest. On phoning the office, the Herald was told all inquiries should be directed to executive director Mark Bryers' assistant.
In its 2006 financial report, the most recent available, Blue Chip Financial Solutions said it was in the "launch phase" of its push into Australia and expected significant sales growth in 2007.
BCFS changed its name to Northern Crest on April 1, telling the ASX it was necessary in order to "quarantine the listed company from the reputational damage" associated with the collapsed Blue Chip scheme. It said the focus of the business was now on opportunities to expand its business model in Australia and abroad.
Northern Crest has also been affected by the Opes Prime margin trading collapse in Australia. The ANZ bank now holds 15.9 per cent of the company as a result of Bryers pledging the majority of his shares as part of a margin loan agreement.
Australian property writer Neil Jenman said little attention had been paid to Blue Chip or Mark Bryers so far by local media. The ASIC said it could not confirm or deny if it was investigating any aspect of Northern Crest's activities.
BRYERS AIRS PLAN FOR HOTEL
Blue Chip co-founder Mark Bryers has given his only interview in weeks to golfing magazine The Cut.
In the monthly publication's latest issue, Bryers talks to sports writer Tom Hyde about plans for a five-star hotel at his Gulf Harbour Country Club on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.
Bryers says the collapsed Blue Chip property investment scheme and the golf course are separate. "It was always a private purchase by my family interests. The financing of Gulf Harbour has nothing to do with Blue Chip.
"We intend to build a five-star resort that will focus on various activities of which golf is only one," he tells the magazine.
Bryers says New Zealand journalists "simply fail to understand the different organisations and their financial positions, which I find quite frustrating".
"Various sections of the media have written in a biased and reckless manner without due regard to the real situation, and in most articles the comments are factually untrue and are now the subject of action."
