Du Val Property Group, founded by property developers Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke who made a reality show which has never screened, built hundreds of apartments, mainly in South Auckland, raising money from investors to partly fund schemes.
Pictured with a seemingly jet-setter lifestyle with Kenyon smoking cigars and frequently posting on Instagram, their business was also the subject of some media reports about upset investors and contractors.
Today, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) said about 120 investors had put money into the Du Val entities. The High Court put Du Val Capital Partners and other Du Val Group companies into interim receivership.
Asset preservation orders were issued and interim receivership orders were also made directly against the Clarkes.
But it may not be till mid-August that we know more precise details because that’s when the PwC accounting team including John Fisk releases its initial report on the business, the authority said.
This morning, FMA staff and police visited the Clarkes’ Remuera home. Uniformed enforcement officers were photographed beside a vehicle with Du Val numberplates.
Du Val said it was founded in 2013, had “over 60 staff members across the company”, had “developed 774 homes settled in the Auckland market in the last six years alone” and had a further 278 homes under construction.
Its business was a 360-degree model, it said, with design management, cost planning, consenting, early pre-contract engagement, tendering, procurement and construction.
The Property Developers was to show the Clarkes “hitting Kiwi screens”. But so far, the long-awaited reality show has never been shown.
In February, Spy magazine in the Herald on Sunday reported British-born Kenyon had more than 100,000 followers and was “infamous for his braggadocious Instagram stories”.
High-profile property specialist John Dalzell has had a long and distinguished career in the sector.
Dalzell is listed on Du Val’s site as its chairman and an independent director. He worked for an Auckland Council entity on the master plan for the $1 billion-plus Sea + City which spearheaded the Wynyard Quarter’s development.
Kenyon Clarke is a director and investment committee chairman. In that last role, he is responsible for vetting and recommending new projects to Du Val’s board. He is also a former bankrupt.
“He has completed over $1 billion of property and financing transactions as principal during his career,” Du Val says.
He was chief executive from 2013 to 2023, when Charlotte took over. Around 1350 apartments were delivered in his time as CEO, Du Val said.
Kenyon’s profile mentions the four children he and Charlotte have as well as his being a Blues supporter.
In 2021, when the property market was running hot, Du Val became a major partner of the Blues Super Rugby team and an official partner of Blues Super Rugby Aupiki Team.
The business said it had donated more than $70,000 to the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust and gave money to Diocesan School for Girls and Auckland Hospice.
Clarke re-emerged having once been declared bankrupt after the Global Financial Crisis, when 12 of his 27 companies went into receivership.
He said he was discharged from bankruptcy more than 13 years ago but acknowledged Halifax Bank of Scotland claimed money.
Dalzell in 2021 said it was not unusual for developers to be declared bankrupt at some stage and it was no barrier to his joining the business.
Lawyer Owen Culliney is a director and founding partner of iClaw, a law firm based in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty. His area of expertise is mergers and acquisitions, corporate structures and large-scale property development.
Charlotte Clarke is chief executive, taking over that role from her husband last November.
“Under Charlotte’s leadership, Du Val has continued to flourish, achieving new milestones and maintaining a strong performance across all sectors,” the company says. Her experience spans building, property and facilities management, sales and marketing and investment.
The business also ran the Du Val Foundation, which it said had been supporting children and families in need since 2017.
Apartment and townhouse schemes are listed on the company’s website.
Many higher-density schemes were built, precisely what planning regulations and new Government moves encourage.
Du Val said it was in the business of housing and aimed to provide quality yet also affordability.
Some are planned. Some are completed.
One subcontractor contacted the Herald today to complain about not being paid and said he had lost money with Mainzeal and other builders.
Various Du Val businesses owe him around $500,000, he complained, after he had worked on seven projects.
Much of this is retentions – monies held by Du Val Construction until they deem it fair and reasonable to release the money to the subcontractor.
“They must release 50 per cent on practical completion and they haven’t,” he complained.
The Du Val companies that he says owe him money were Du Val Construction, which recently changed its name to Blue River Holdings, and Trans-Tasman Pacific, a vehicle ultimately managed by Du Val Group.
“Despite numerous requests and lawyers’ letters they refuse to issue schedules of how much they are holding and the method so we know how funds are secured,” he said.
The subbie worked on seven Du Val projects in the past four years.
“We were always getting paid but if you do $1m worth of work and they hold 10% retentions, that’s $100k and for someone like us, that’s a huge amount and retentions build up,” he said.
He remains unsurprised about today’s moves.
BusinessDesk reported on July 17 how 15 Du Val companies changed their names.
Du Val Sales has become Orange Pineapple, Du Val Developments is now Amble Valley, and Du Val Acquisitions is called Woodle. Other were Du Val Holdings, now Farham; Du Val Health, which becomes Shrub Holdings; Du Val Fashion, renamed Diamond Box; Du Val PT, which is now Flipping Lids; and Du Val Wealth, which has been relabelled Coastway.
It also reported that on August 12, the High Court at Hamilton was due to hear an application from plasterboard and interiors company Global Linings to liquidate Blue River Holdings.
In October 2021, the FMA told Du Val to remove advertising for a mortgage fund which gave the impression it was low risk. But Kenyon Clarke said the business raised $20m via a mortgage offer to wholesale investors and no one had complained.
Last March, the Herald reported how the FMA had warned residential developer Du Val Capital about misleading and deceptive statements to investors in a mortgage fund.
It considered that investors were given a misleading impression of the reasons for Du Val Capital Partners suspending cash distributions on the fund and proposing instead to convert cash distributions into units in the fund, pending a potential public listing.
Last year BusinessDesk reported that a group of concerned investors had sought legal advice after payments from the Du Val build-to-rent fund were suspended. That event followed a similar situation with the Du Val Capital Partners’ mortgage fund which suspended repayments in late 2022.
The FMA considers investors may also have been misled about their rights in relation to the suspension, it said. The warning is for communication in December 2022 when DVCP and Du Val Group contacted investors, telling them of plans to restructure the Du Val Mortgage Fund.
Today’s move by the FMA came out of the blue.
No announcements were made about the staff visiting the house nor the police involvement. It was only mid-morning that the FMA announced its action against the businesses and the Clarkes.
When BusinessDesk rang the doorbell at the gated Remuera home this morning Kenyon Clarke said, “See ya later ... go away.”
The Herald has approached Charlotte Clarke and Culliney for comment.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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