Masfen-backed wood firm with receivers

Peter Masfen, pictured in 2007. File photo / NZ Herald

A company backed by rich-lister Peter Masfen is now in the hands of receivers.

Pacific T & R was set up in 2012 and is building a timber processing plant in Taupo that extracts resin from waste pine stumps and separates it into other products.

But the money ran out before the project could be completed and receivers Andrew Grenfell and William Black were called in last week by a secured lender.

Grenfell did not reveal the identity of this lender nor the amount owing, which would be detailed in the receivers' first report due in early April.

He said the receivers had got short-term funding so the business, which employs 22 people, could continue until "a solution is found".

"There will be a sale process for the project and associated assets," Grenfell and Black said. "The receivers are currently advertising the project for sale and identifying potentially interested parties."

The plant is expected to be commissioned by April's end.

Pacific T & R's shareholders, the Companies Office shows, include Pacific Pine Derivatives, Australia's Macquarie Capital Group and Selene Holdings, whose sole owner is Masfen - an Auckland businessman estimated to be worth more than $400 million.

Selene owns about 26.5 per cent of the company.

Masfen, a former Olympic rower, is listed as one of Selene's directors, with his son-in-law Raphael Yan, who is also on the Pacific T & R board.

Masfen's interests in New Zealand business are extensive. One investment vehicle, Masfen Securities, has holdings in a wide range of listed firms. His group also has a large property portfolio.

An attempt to contact Masfen yesterday, via his son Rolf, was unsuccessful.