What is the Du Val Group and why has it been put into statutory management? - The Front Page

Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke, of Du Val. Photo / Supplied

Investigations in the Du Val Group started in 2021 over ads related to a $20 million mortgage fund.

The Auckland-based apartment and townhouse developer made national headlines earlier this month, after the Financial Markets Authority put the company into interim receivership.

The group was founded by husband and wife duo Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke.

Three people from PwC were appointed as interim receivers at that time.

NZ Herald property editor Anne Gibson told The Front Page this all started three years ago.

“It dates back to 2021, when the FMA told Du Val to remove advertising for a mortgage fund, it was about a $20 million fund, and the FMA basically said that that advertising gave the impression to people it was low risk, but Kenyon Clark said in response that there hadn’t been anyone who had complained, and they had raised $20 million by that mortgage offer.”

This week, things escalated when the Government put the group into statutory management.

Gibson said it is quite rare for the Government to do this.

“This is under the Corporations Act, and statutory management means effectively that one entity, in this case PwC and those accountants who are also the receivers and the managers of the devolved business, so here’s where it gets really complicated, one entity is in charge.

“Now the FMA thought that was important to limit or prevent the risk of further deterioration in the financial affairs of their businesses or any fraudulent activity to preserve the interests of the creditors and to enable the affairs of Du Val Group to be managed in what the FMA said was a more orderly way.”

Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Andrew Bayly took the case to Cabinet, and he told Gibson the Government wants to ensure the developments Du Val is involved will continue and be completed.

Bayly listed three other cases - Aorangi Finance, Hubbard Management Funds, and Idea Services - where the Government has intervened like this.

Gibson has spoken with several investors and landlords with links to Du Val Group and their properties. They are curious about what the Government’s intervention means for them, and many are concerned about the next steps.

“A number of them have um, significant deposits with Du Val, they’re wholesale investors. Others are subcontractors [who] have been in touch with me to say that they hadn’t been paid for quite an extensive period of time and they had performed the tasks that they were contracted to carry out and they were extremely worried about what would happen.

“Now, I did ask Andrew Bayly when we would know about the outcome for these parties. He said perhaps the next thing that will happen will be that we will see [the] PwC receivers report. Now, what I hope that will show is a list of assets and liabilities. I hope that will bring some clarity to this situation.”

Listen to the full episode for more on who’s behind Du Val Group and what are the next steps in this case.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.