KEY POINTS:
About 50 Blue Chip investors who signed to buy 90 units in Auckland's new Bianco twin towers got a temporary reprieve in court yesterday.
The group, Neil Hickman and others, applied for an interim injunction against Turn & Wave to stop the release of their deposits for the units.
The money is held in a trust account of CMS Legal and Hickman is a British investment banker who sank $1.7 million into 19 Blue Chip apartments as part of his application for New Zealand residency.
Paul Dale and Daniel Grove, barristers representing the Bianco investors, yesterday went to Justice Christopher Allen in the High Court at Auckland.
Grove said a two-week adjournment was agreed to after representatives of Turn & Wave said they would take no immediate action on the deposits in the meantime. The money will stay in the trust account and the case is called again on September 24.
At stake are deals worth millions of dollars to sell Blue Chip investors new apartments in the 157-unit blocks of 14 levels and 17 levels between Turner and Waverley Sts just off Queen St above Mayoral Drive.
The blocks are nearly finished, triggering the transfer of the deposits and the completion of deals struck before Blue Chip collapsed, owing at least 2000 people more than $80 million.
The investors plan to dispute contracts they signed to settle on the apartments, questioning promises made to them about values and the validity of contracts.
Turn & Wave's sole director is developer Tim Manning of Takapuna and its shares are owned by Norwich Enterprises, whose directors are Manning and June McCabe of St Marys Bay. Norwich Enterprises is owned by Chaylor Investments and Manning owns all the shares in Chaylor. He is also a director of Chaylor, with Michael Manning of Remuera, Companies Office records show.
New six-monthly updates on the liquidation of 17 failed Blue Chip companies were released yesterday.
Liquidators Meltzer Mason Heath reported on ART Apartments, Auckland Residential Tenancies, Bribanc Property Group, Art Apartments (2006), Blue chip Joint Ventures, Blue Jay Holdings, Blue Sky Holdings, Denby, Ilminster, Kingsley, Lanark, LTS, McKeffry, Pendale, Strowan and The Landings Management Services.
The companies went into liquidation on either February 8 or 12 and were all part of the group operating as the NZ franchise of Blue Chip Financial Solutions, now known as Northern Crest Investments, said the reports from liquidator Lloyd Hayward.
"The liquidators are continuing to liaise with various Government agencies empowered to deal with breaches of legislation or to investigate possible fraudulent activity," Hayward wrote.
Large numbers of investors had joined groups examining the possibility of suing financial advisers, lawyers, valuers and other professionals involved, he said. Or they were trying to have their sale and purchase deals cancelled and deposits returned.
"Such groups provide the best avenue for possible recovery in those circumstances. Their actions are independent of and complementary to the work the liquidators are currently undertaking."
