Receivers at PwC await court direction on releasing Du Val report

When will we know more about the interim receivership of privately owned Auckland apartment and terraced housing developer Du Val?

Those in charge at accounting firm PwC in Auckland have filed their initial report on the business including 64 companies and Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke, all in interim receivership.

Now, they say they are waiting to see if they can release that report.

Asked for an update today, a PwC spokeswoman said: “The report was filed with the court on Friday. We are waiting for direction from the court regarding its publication.”

Nothing has been released in public yet.

No updates on the companies appear on the Companies Office and PwC’s news link to its appointment contains no further details, other than the names of the receivers and some details about the appointment.

On August 2, the Financial Markets Authority took action against the business and its founders, saying about 120 investors had put money into the Du Val entities.

At the FMA’s request, the High Court put Du Val Capital Partners and other Du Val Group companies into interim receivership.

Asset preservation orders were issued and interim receivership orders were also made directly against the Clarkes.

PwC says via a news link about Du Val: “The receivers are required to report to the court within 10 working days of the appointment. A further update can be provided following this.”

The FMA said it had taken five separate enforcement actions against Du Val since 2021. It lists those on its website as:

1. October 2021: FMA tells Du Val to remove advertising materials likely to mislead or deceive investors. Statements by its Du Val Mortgage Fund Limited Partnership contravened fair dealing provisions by creating the impression that investing in financial products connected to property development was low risk. “Property development, including associated finance, is inherently risky,” the FMA said then. Kenyon Clarke told the Herald his business raised $20m via a mortgage offer to wholesale investors and no one had complained.
2. July 2022: Du Val appealed that action but the High Court upheld an FMA direction order.
3. October 2022: FMA conducted a review of wholesale investments into property-related offers after rising complaints and concerns about such offers, how they were promoted and whether non-wholesale investors were being targeted and their money accepted.
4. March 2023: FMA warned Du Val Capital Partners, the general partner of the Du Val Mortgage Fund Limited Partnership and Du Val Group for misleading or deceptive statements to investors in the mortgage fund.
5. August 2, 2024: FMA has the High Court put Du Val and associated entities into interim receivership.

Those entities in interim receivership with Du Val in their names, listed in the order PwC posted, are: Du Val Capital Partners, Du Val Group, Du Val IP Holdings, Du Val Prop Tech, Du Val Connect Limited Partnership, Du Val Mortgage Fund Limited Partnership and Du Val Opportunity Fund Limited Partnership.

The list continues with Du Val BTR GP, Du Val Build To Rent Limited Partnership, Du Val Property Group, Du Val Investments, Du Val Building, Du Val Land, Du Val Property Management, Du Val Management, Du Val GP Holdings, Du Val Clubs, Du Val HC GP, Du Val Health Clubs Limited Partnership, Du Val CMUF GP, and Du Val Commercial and Mixed-Use Fund Limited Partnership.

And it continues with Du Val BTR, Du Val CMUF, Du Val GP 1, Du Val New Homes Limited Partnership, Du Val GP 5, Du Val GP 8, Du Val Education Limited Partnership, Du Val GP, Du Val GP 4, Du Val Development Fund No. 14 Limited Partnership, Du Val GP 7, Du Val GP 9, Du Val GP 10 and Du Val GP 11.

No date has been given for when the initial report might be available

Requests for comments from Du Val executives have gone unanswered this month.

Davey Salmon KC, who has previously represented Du Val in legal cases, said he was not in a position to comment.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.