Watchdog looking into sale of Cavalli island and retreat

Motukawaiti Island is likely to have fetched $5 million. Photo / Supplied

The sale of one of Northland's most beautiful resort islands has sparked an Overseas Investment Office inquiry.

OIO manager Annelies McClure confirmed the investigation into the purchase of Motukawaiti Island in the Cavalli Islands group, which changed hands in August last year. Estate agents estimated it would have sold for at least $5 million.

The 37ha island in three titles was transferred from the Motukawaiti Island Trustee Company to St Morris NZ. The sole director of St Morris NZ is Wenning Han, of Auckland.

The Cavalli Retreat and Spa opened on Motukawaiti in 2006. It has three rooms able to accommodate six people. The tariff is listed on a promotional website as $2500 a room per night, plus GST.

Motukawaiti was first surveyed in 1912 and was subdivided in 1972. It is the second-largest island in the Cavalli group and the only one privately owned.

The island is a 10-minute helicopter flight from Kerikeri.

The retreat is set right on the beach just metres from the water. It has 20 staff, an all-tide wharf and floating pontoon and good anchorage.

Bayleys Real Estate had the island listed for sale in 2009 for an undisclosed sum.

Motukawaiti Island Trustee Company was listed as the previous owner of the island. Shares in the trustee company can be traced back to lawyers, accountants and another company, directed by resort owners Ray and Helen Arneson.

The exact sale price is unknown. But a mortgagor representative named Haiyan Yang has registered an $11.5 million mortgage plus interest over the island in the name of mortgagee Jun Zhang.

The island title also has a caveat in the name of Haiming Jiang with a note that St Morris NZ holds a share of the land in trust for the caveator in terms of a constructive trust.