Osteria Mount Maunganui. Photo / Bijou Johnson
The company behind a well-known Italian restaurant in Mount Maunganui has gone into liquidation, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax debt.
Osteria Mt Maunganui Limited, owned by Jeanette McIntosh, went into voluntary liquidation on March 12.
The first liquidator’s report showed it owed more than $650,000 to Inland Revenue (IRD), and sold the business and assets before the liquidation.
The Companies Register listed McIntosh as the sole director of the company, which was incorporated in 2015. She and her trust, Toshi Trustees Limited, are the shareholders.
McIntosh was present when the Bay of Plenty Times visited the Osteria Mount Maunganui restaurant in downtown Mount Maunganui last week.
She initially asked the Bay of Plenty Times not to publish anything at this early stage of the liquidation, but later responded briefly to emailed questions.
McIntosh confirmed the restaurant would remain open and that all staff were still employed.
She said the business was sold based on “legal advice”, and that the company’s only debt was to IRD.
”All suppliers were paid in full.”
McIntosh said the situation resulted from “poorly managed and inherited debts”.
She claimed negotiations with IRD failed as the department would not accept the proposed payment plan and refinancing.
IRD said it could not comment on the affairs of any specific taxpayer, including businesses.
Adam Botterill and Damien Grant, of Waterstone Insolvency in Auckland, have been appointed as liquidators of Osteria Mt Maunganui Limited.
The first liquidator’s report, published on March 24, said “poor trading conditions” meant the company could not meet its historic debt obligations.
It said the liquidators would investigate the company’s affairs and financial records, and “form a view as to whether any insolvent transactions have occurred or if there have been any breaches of legislation by the company’s officers”.
Case manager and Waterstone senior analyst Ben Jury told the Bay of Plenty Times the money owed was primarily tax debt.
He said penalties and interest applied to core debts had accumulated to a point where the company could not realistically trade for much longer.
Jury said the company’s business and assets were sold on March 12, prior to liquidation that day.
Jury said the business was sold to a related entity and that entity took on employee entitlements debt of about $50,000 as part of a credit transfer.
Jury confirmed liquidators would look at the company’s actions in selling its assets prior to liquidation.
“The main investigation will be to make sure that the business sale was done correctly and at fair value.”
The pre-liquidation value of the company’s assets was between $30,000 and $50,000.
He said insolvent trading was a possibility, based on the size of the tax debt and the minimal asset value.
The liquidator’s report listed 11 known secured creditors or interests.
They included Inland Revenue; Coca-Cola Amatil (NZ) Limited; BOC Limited; Hancocks Wine, Spirit and Beer Merchants Limited; Negociants NZ; Foundation Equipment Limited; Heartland Bank Limited; and Independent Liquor (NZ) Limited.
The report said one preferential creditor claim had been received from IRD totalling $385,205.23.
IRD had also lodged an unsecured creditor claim of $273,834.72.
The two IRD claims totalled $659,039.91.
The report stated it was unknown whether there would be sufficient realisable assets to enable a distribution to any class of creditors.
The liquidators were still in the process of securing and reviewing the company’s documents.
A date for the liquidation’s completion could not yet be estimated.
Two other Osteria locations – in Matamata and Ohakune – were linked to the Mount Maunganui company years ago but now have different owners and are no longer connected.
Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.