Engineering firm Obelisk Industrial goes bust, BNZ and Kiwibank among creditors owed $11m

Obelisk's website said it offered crane hire and performed welding, seismic strengthening and fabricated structural steel.

A Northland engineering firm has gone bust with liquidators citing the director’s “complete lack of governance” and “alleged misappropriation” as the reasons for its collapse.

Obelisk Industrial’s shareholder appointed liquidators Ecovis KGA on June 3, and their first report listed $11 million in total debts.

Sole director Steve Culham describes himself on LinkedIn as Obelisk’s managing director and says he is a St Kentigern College old boy who attended the private school between 2001 and 2003. The company is said to employ about 100 staff.

The company’s sole shareholder is listed as Kara Culham, who shares an address with Steve Culham in Auckland’s Swanson.

Obelisk is said to have operated a fabrication plant in Ruakākā and other premises in Henderson.

Ecovis’ report said the company was in trouble for several months prior to the liquidators’ appointment, “caused by the current economic environment, high levels of debt, and exacerbated by a complete lack of governance on the part of the director”.

Ecovis said attempts to restructure the business failed, “culminating with an alleged misappropriation of a significant amount of funds by the director”.

Secured creditors, including Kiwibank and BNZ, were owed $6.7m while more than was $1m was due to preferential creditor Inland Revenue. Unsecured creditors were owed $2.5m.

The largest asset quantified as available to be realised was $2.2m in related-party receivables.

A day after it entered liquidation, United Steel appointed receivers KhovJones under the terms of a general security agreement to try to recover the $240,007 it was owed.

The administrators’ reports said the liquidators and receivers were working together to try to sell the business and assets of the company as a going concern.

Obelisk’s website said it offered crane hire and performed welding, seismic strengthening and fabricated structural steel and provided an explanation for its name.

“An Obelisk represents the enormous power that hides behind the daily decisions made by everyone involved in a team. It also signifies the need for every person to dedicate their efforts to the advancement of a single goal – to ultimately leave behind an achievement that will continue to stand in both metaphorical and literal terms,” the company said.

A request for comment to the Culham family, sent through a representative, was not responded to by publication.

Matt Nippert is an Auckland-based investigations reporter covering white-collar and transnational crimes and the intersection of politics and business. He has won more than a dozen awards for his journalism – including twice being named Reporter of the Year – and joined the Herald in 2014 after having spent the decade prior reporting from business newspapers and national magazines.