Hikanui Capital was established in 2019 and specialises in property development, relocatable homes, and property rental.
The company was placed in liquidation by order of the High Court over “unpaid levies” to one of the creditors, a body corporate, and it has stopped trading, according to the first liquidator’s report released late last week.
The company owed almost $4.3 million to various creditors when it went into liquidation, the report stated.
Tawhiti said the creditors were mainly funders and IRD and he said no staff wages were outstanding.
Tawhiti said Hikanui Capital owned properties, including two in Hawke’s Bay and one in Auckland. He claimed they had not been taken into account in the liquidator’s report - and most of the debt would be covered by those assets.
He also claimed “settlement agreements” had been reached with some of the creditors since the company was placed into liquidation, and other debt had been “negated” and “transferred to a different entity to carry on”.
As a result, he said the overall debt had dropped “right back”.
He also claimed some of the alleged debt had “not been proven”.
Three other companies owned by Tawhiti also went into liquidation in late March and early April - Tawhiti Commercials, Te Mata Commercials, and Tawhiti Rentals.
Liquidator’s reports for two of those companies have minimal information about debts, and a report has yet to be released for one of them.
Another company owned by Tawhiti, Omahu Commercials, was placed in receivership in December.
Tawhiti also owns other companies that are still operating and registered.
He said the liquidation of Hikanui Capital was the result of a receivership process which he claimed was “invalid”.
“That led to a significant number of defaults which triggered one company [the body corporate] to automatically put Hikanui into liquidation over a $30,000 debt,” he said.
The receivership was related to a loan with Otis Trustee Ltd.
One of the appointed receivers, Adam Botterill, said he did not accept there was an issue with the appointment of a receiver.
He disagreed with Tawhiti’s claim the receivership led to the liquidation, saying debts owed to creditors like IRD - of over $600,000 - were part of the liquidation but were not part of the receivership.
The appointed liquidator has been contacted about the company’s assets in the liquidation report.
The liquidator’s report stated Hikanui Capital had assets with a book value of about $2.7 million.
Those assets were mainly “related party receivables”, meaning money owed to the company by related parties or entities.
The report stated Hikanui Capital also owed a substantial amount of money to associated companies (not included in the $4.3 million figure owed to creditors).
Court charges withdrawn
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) took Hikanui Capital to the Environment Court in 2022 over alleged breaches related to earthworks at a site on Durham Drive in Havelock North.
An HBRC spokeswoman said the three charges were withdrawn in March due to the company going into liquidation, as “the public interest test was no longer met”.
The spokeswoman said Hikanui Capital had been issued three abatement notices by the regional council in 2021 and early 2022.
A compliance visit in February 2022 allegedly discovered further unauthorised earthworks at the site in Havelock North, and a decision to file for prosecution was made, the spokeswoman said.
“A resource consent was sought by the property owner through Hastings District Council for the works undertaken at the site and was granted on 25 March 2022.”
Tawhiti said he believed the court proceeding had been a “complete waste of taxpayer money” and was “extremely bullish” by the regional council.
Tawhiti has featured in news articles in the past including when one of his former companies SHT Holdings Ltd, trading as Relocate Homes NZ, was fined $14,000 in 2015 for illegally moving houses onto four Hastings sections.
He also made headlines when he and his partner successfully bought and relocated a home which sold for $1 from Auckland to Hastings.
In 2019, three other companies owned by Tawhiti went into liquidation.
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
