A lawyer for the founders of the Breakers restaurant and Rosie O'Grady pub chains has blamed the termination of their Masonic Hotel lease in Napier last year as the start of the couple's financial problems, culminating in bankruptcy proceedings in the High Court at Napier last week.
The proceeding wasbrought by two former landlords. Anca Properties, which owns the Masonic Hotel in Napier and Kenneth Wheadon, who owns the Hastings building that formerly housed a Rosie O'Grady pub. It has been vacant for more than a year.
Breakers founders Mark and Penelope Burt owed $5.7 million and have offered seven creditors $86,000 of which $62,000 will go to the ANZ bank. Anca Properties and Kenneth Wheadon are owed $174,100 and $126,000 respectively and have rejected the Burts' offer.
The Burts' debt was $5.7 million, yet their personal assets totalled just $28,000. They live in a house owned by a trust to which they pay rent.
The Burts' lawyer, Nathan Gray, said his clients did not deserve the stigma of bankruptcy or to have their affairs investigated.
Objecting creditors' lawyer Daniel Kerr said the widespread failure of the Burts' businesses suggested an inability to manage their financial and business affairs in future, and so the restrictions imposed by bankruptcy were appropriate.
