Mainzeal director's appeal fails

Richard Yan.

Mainzeal director Richard Yan's second bid to stall the liquidation of a company related to the collapsed construction business has been rejected by the Court of Appeal.

Richina Global Real Estate, whose sole director is Yan, was put into liquidation on February 27 by Justice Brendan Brown after an application by BDO, the liquidators of Mainzeal Property and Construction.

Mainzeal, whose former board members included ex-Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was a building business that collapsed in 2013 leaving 2000 unsecured creditors claiming around $93.5 million. After the court order last month, BDO was also appointed liquidator for Richina Global Real Estate (RGREL).

Yan has filed an attempt to overturn the RGREL liquidation order with the Court of Appeal.

Pending that appeal, Yan also tried to put the liquidation on hold and made an urgent bid in the High Court.

This was rejected by Justice Brendan Brown. Yan then went to the Court of Appeal, which heard his second bid to put a stay on the liquidation, which effectively would put it on hold. The grounds advanced by Yan's lawyer for the stay was that the wider appeal would be rendered nugatory if it was not granted.

The stay was opposed by BDO's lawyers and Justices Christine French, Ellen France and Mark Cooper declined to grant it in a decision released yesterday.

The three judges said Yan had other avenues to protect his interests than the stay.

"To stop the liquidation altogether ... would be an unduly blunt response given that other, more tailored, remedies are available," the justices said.