Click to view Herald graphic: Chips are down

Click to view Herald graphic: Chips are down

Untangling the complex web of Blue Chip-related companies which are now in liquidation is such a huge task that the liquidator of the multimillion-dollar property investment business says it will take a long time to find out who owes what.

Most of the companies associated with Blue Chip's New Zealand franchisee Diem Ltd went into liquidation yesterday, leaving the financial future of thousands of investors up in the air.

Three companies were already in liquidation but at least 15 more have now followed. Auckland insolvency specialist Jeff Meltzer said he had been appointed as liquidator for the Blue Chip-associated companies.

He said neither Diem Ltd nor Blue Chip Financial Solutions Ltd, its Australian-listed parent company, had gone into liquidation.

But Blue Chip Financial Solutions Ltd requested a trading halt yesterday pending an announcement today.

Meltzer said the task of liquidating the New Zealand firms was daunting, with so much money at stake and so many entities involved.

"We're still trying to understand what they are, who, where and what they are all about," Meltzer said.

The string of liquidations immediately superseded any statutory demands which desperate investors had filed against the companies, working with barrister Paul Dale and property investment adviser Olly Newland.

"Those demands will lapse automatically because the only thing the statutory demands could do is force a company into liquidation," Meltzer said.

Many of the companies took deposits from investors for Auckland inner-city high-rise apartment blocks. But in some cases, the buildings never rose out of the ground, interest payments on the deposits ceased weeks ago and investors were worried.

Dale represents investors who paid deposits of $100,000 to some of the companies.

This money was a large downpayment for an apartment and he said yesterday he was pleased about the liquidations because investors were desperate to know where their money was.

"But I'm not optimistic there will be a bank account with money in it," Dale said.

He represents investors who paid money to Kingsley Ltd, which he said had taken deposits to build a multi-level apartment block in St Martins Lane in Auckland.

He is also acting for investors in Lanark Ltd, which again received deposits for apartments not built in Auckland.