Matauri X subdivision to pay debt

A leasehold subdivision of up to 100 sections should help put a financially troubled Far North Maori group onto a sound footing.
Matauri X, which owns 500 hectares of land in the Far North on behalf of 430 shareholders, has voted to subdivide 10ha of the land to repay a $4.5 million debt with finance company Bridgecorp. Matauri X bought into the Eternal Springs mineral water company in 2001 after borrowing $2.5 million without the approval of shareholders.
The trust faced the prospect of having to sell some or all of its tribal block of prime coastal land at Matauri Bay to repay the debt after the venture failed.
The Maori Land Court is holding an investigation into the affairs of the committee of management of Matauri X over the deal.
The court-appointed administrator of Matauri X, Kevin Gillespie, said yesterday that Matauri X had reached agreement with the company behind the Mataka Station development - a substantial coastal property incorporating a 1000ha farm in the Bay of Islands - to develop the subdivision. Sections at Mataka started at $1.5 million.
Mr Gillespie said Baylys Real Estate would market the Matauri X subdivision, which would be back from the beach at Matauri Bay.
He said the subdivision would include between 70 and 100 sections of about 800 square metres. The sections would be on a leasehold basis of between 70 and 100 years.
Mr Gillespie said sale of the sections in the subdivision should put Matauri X on a sound financial footing.
He said resource consent applications for the subdivision could be lodged with the Far North District Council by Christmas.
Te Tai Tokerau MP Dover Samuels, the single largest shareholder in Matauri X, hoped the subdivision would also fund a comprehensive development programme for Matauri X.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal this week heard an application from Matauri X to overturn a High Court ruling that the mortgage from Bridgecorp was valid and that Matauri X had to repay it.
Matauri X had earlier unsuccessfully tried to argue in the High Court that the loan should be declared invalid because it was taken out without the consent of the shareholders.
The three judges hearing the appeal are expected to release their decision on the case next month. The loan has left Matauri X facing interest repayments of $4000 a week, but the body has little income to repay the loan.