Receivers hope a new operator will complete the Grays Funeral Home development at Ngongotaha. Photo/Stephen Parker
Receivers hope a new operator will complete the Grays Funeral Home development at Ngongotaha. Photo/Stephen Parker
Grays Funeral Services has been placed in receivership and is up for sale, with receivers confident its unfinished development will be completed.
The Rotorua Daily Post reported on Saturday how construction of Grays' new funeral home at Ngongotaha had ground to a halt, due to lack of funds.
Local contractorshad been left out of pocket, with one claiming to have gone out of business as a result.
On Monday, the Companies Office record for Grays Funeral Services 2005 Limited was updated to show it had been placed in the hands of receivers BDO Tauranga Limited. The receivers were appointed on Thursday. The business and assets are being advertised for sale on an urgent basis, with expressions of interest closing on Monday next week.
"I am still fairly confident that the development will be completed," receiver Thomas Rodewald said yesterday.
He said it was not an option for Grays itself to continue with the development but under the rules there was nothing to stop any party associated with Grays from attempting to do so. Mr Rodewald said they were in the process of sending a circular out to all creditors asking them to file a confirmation of debt.
Its first receiver's report, which would detail the company's financial position, was due within two months, he said.
However he said they already had a "good idea" of what Grays owed. "To confirm that it's going to take a bit of time."
The unfinished 1.72ha complex next to Kauae cemetery, designed as Rotorua's largest privately-owned funeral home, was due to open in May last year after development began in October 2012. The site, with 80 per cent of the development completed, has been idle for five months.
Grays director Richard Bennison had previously told the Rotorua Daily Post the project had overrun its original $1.38 million budget by $1.9 million but he was doing his utmost to continue the project and pay contractors.
Mr Bennison could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
