Business titan Sir Neville Jordan sued by Florida town after years of debt claims

Celebrated entrepreneur Sir Neville Jordan's Endeavour Capital has been the target of litigation involving a Florida township said to be owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. Photo / Greg Bowker

A Florida town sued one of New Zealand's most famous business leaders and sought to liquidate his company after claiming years of unpaid debts.

Sir Neville Jordan's Endeavour Capital Limited was earlier this year ordered to pay the Town of Jupiter more than $250,000.

Jordan, 78, is an entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, former Victoria University of Wellington chancellor, and former Royal Society of NZ president.

In August, Jupiter applied to put Endeavour Capital into liquidation. The application was to be heard last week in Wellington, and the Herald has requested relevant documents from the hearing.

Endeavour Capital secured investment funding a decade ago to create high-value science jobs in Florida.

The town council from north of Miami sued Jordan after a settlement agreement made in 2014, and repeatedly claimed it was owed money.

A Jupiter town council meeting in March 2019 indicated a settlement payment was "overdue" and the town attorney was "following up to collect".

A High Court judgment from earlier this year outlined some of the dispute.

"That agreement required Endeavour to make time payments against
an agreed indebtedness of US$337,176," Associate Judge Dale Lester said.

That US amount equates to about NZ$470,000 at today's exchange rates.

"The payments were to be made over a number of years. Endeavour's first default occurred in June 2015 and the final payment was made in April 2017," the judge added.

"The evidence discloses solicitors for Jupiter following up on the missed payments and receiving numerous promises of payment which it seems came to nothing."

Jupiter's claim against Jordan himself was dismissed in March but the town still sought judgment against Endeavour Capital, of which Jordan is sole director and shareholder.

The judgment indicated Jordan was at one point served court papers while he was at Wellington Regional Hospital. It was not immediately clear if he was an in-patient at the time.

Associate Judge Lester made a judgment in favour of Jupiter for US$178,899.39 (about NZ$248,000) plus costs worth tens of thousands of dollars.

The Palm Beach County town of Jupiter applied to put Sir Neville Jordan's Endeavour Capital into liquidation. Photo / 123RF

Jordan was approached for comment on Sunday and again today, but has not engaged.

The Endeavour Capital office landline in Wellington rang at length today without being answered.

Endeavour Capital described itself a trading company for oil and petroleum products.

"It also provides equity and is built on a direct legacy of over 40 years," the company said on its website.

The Companies Office today listed Endeavour Capital as a commodity broking company and Jordan was the only director.

Jordan was 2012 Wellingtonian of the Year and previously listed as one of the owners of a sprawling Tirohanga homestead in Lower Hutt which was put on the market in 2019.

He founded MAS Technology, listed on the Nasdaq in New York in the late 1990s, the first New Zealand company to do so.

The Jupiter town attorney has been approached for comment.