Huka Lodge owner appeals US$25m court decision

The owner of Huka Lodge is appealing a High Court decision that ordered him to pay US$25 million to his former business partner. Photo / Jim Eagles

Huka Lodge owner Alexander van Heeren is appealing a High Court decision that ordered him to pay US$25 million (NZ$33m) to his former business partner.

That ruling required the Dutch businessman to make payment into the court by today - one calendar month after the release of the judgment.

The US$25 million ($33 million) is only an interim payment, with the decision also ordering an account be taken between van Heeren and his former business partner, Johannesberg-based Michael Kidd.

This is to determine how much is due to Kidd in his claim against van Heeren, who was the honorary Dutch consul to Auckland between 1985 and 2012.

Justice John Fogarty also ordered van Heeren to provide a complete list of all assets of his and Kidd's partnership - which was broke up in 1991 - and their current value.

The pair worked together in the international steel trade for about 15 years and acquired an empire of assets before parting ways.

Kidd claims he got less than US$5 million when the pair severed ties, while van Heeren allegedly held on to assets worth at least ten times this - including Taupo's Huka Lodge, Fiji's Dolphin Island retreat, and 32kg of gold.

Van Heeren, however, is appealing Justice Fogarty's decision.

It is not clear whether this means the $US25 million will be paid today, although the High Court this morning had no record of an application to stay last month's orders.

Van Heeren's QC, Bruce Gray, said he did not have instructions to speak to the media.

The appeal is the latest round in a dispute that first began in 1996 and has been argued in both New Zealand's and South African's courts.

Van Heeren no longer lives in New Zealand but is widely acknowledged as the owner of Huka Lodge, a luxury resort which has hosted the likes of the Queen, Bill Gates and Pink Floyd.

When van Heeren arranged the purchase of the lodge in 1984, he nominated a company he set up called Worldwide Leisure to take the title.

Worldwide Leisure's main shareholder is a Dutch company called Saraceno Holdings, which the Overseas Investment Commission in 2005 said was to hold shares in the lodge "as bare trustee" for van Heeren.