'Nothing' for Tribro creditors

Counties Manukau Rugby Union is owed $314,000 from last season by its main sponsor Tribro. Pictured: Tim Nanai Williams Photo / Richard Robinson

Dozens of large firms owed millions of dollars by Auckland's collapsed Tribro construction businesses are unlikely to get their money.

John Whittfield - liquidator of Tribro Construction, Tribro Holdings and many associated companies - said unsecured creditors would probably not get a cent.

"There's not going to be anything," he predicted this week.

Whittfield's initial report on Tribro Construction showed it owed $6.5 million and Tribro Holdings owed $4.7 million.

However, this did not automatically mean a cumulative $11.2 million loss because the businesses operated with a large number of inter-company transactions, he said.

Many of the Tribro businesses run and owned by the Casey family went into voluntary liquidation last month and Whittfield has 55 claims registered against Tribro Construction alone.

"The liquidations are particularly significant, partly due to the large number of creditors," he said.

Inland Revenue, PlaceMakers outlets at Three Kings and New Lynn, Accident Compensation Corporation, Genesis Energy, Vodafone and Yellow Pages Group are just some of the many businesses claiming money. Whittfield has attached full lists of claimants to his reports.

The Tribro businesses are "significant' in terms of the residential construction sector, he said, building a number of houses, particularly in the Whangarei area.

Eastern Contracting Services, part of the Tribro businesses, is in liquidation and Whittfield said that firm was contracted to Mitchell Homes which also failed part-way into building new state houses in streets between Dominion Rd and Mt Albert Rd.

Whittfield said Tribro's directors, who include Andrew and Warren Casey, had been co-operative during the liquidations. He attributed the businesses' failure to fast growth and speed of acquisitions.

The downturn had hit the businesses particularly hard.

"It's apparent that it grew very rapidly during the economic boom but as activity declined, obligations and investments failed to meet expectations."

Some of Tribro's creditors are in financial strife after the liquidations.

The Herald has reported how Counties Manukau Rugby Union had been living "hand-to-mouth" since Tribro's collapse. The builder was the union's major sponsor and the sporting organisation was owed $314,000 from last season.