Judge orders NearZero liquidation

The New Zealand assets of Nelson technology company NearZero Inc have been ordered liquidated by the High Court.

But some shareholders still want to retain their shares in the company, and are seeking another High Court hearing.

Associate Judge Anthony Christiansen yesterday said he accepted evidence that the company was insolvent and its vaunted data compression technology had no value.

His ruling stems from the October hearing in which the company opposed liquidation on the grounds that the financial majority of shareholders were against it.

When interim liquidators were appointed for NearZero in May it was revealed 300 shareholders had invested $5.3 million in the Nevada-registered firm for a project to commercialise developed data compression technology.

The technology was promoted by Nelson director Philip Whitley and promised revenue exceeding several billion US dollars annually, but the company did not file an investment statement or register a prospectus.

Two million dollars in share subscriptions were traced to Whitley's personal bank account, $1.3m was paid to another Whitley company, Syntiro, and $800,000 went to NearZero's US secretary.

In July, Justice Wild declined the company's application to rescind the interim liquidation order.

Shareholders with a combined value of $3.13m voted to stay with NearZero while those representing $2.16m wanted out.

Last month, Michael Robinson, the counsel for the interim liquidators, told Associate Judge Christiansen that the company was insolvent and unable to pay between $1.3 and $1.7m of its debts.

At the time those shareholders wanting refunds were likely to receive between 7.5 cents and 15c in the dollar.

The judge yesterday appointed Vivian Fatupaito and John Waller as liquidators.

Fatupaito said a prime focus was to sell NearZero's Nelson assets, which included Whitley's fleet of American cars, to avoid further storage costs.

The application by shareholders wanting to retain their shares would be heard by the High Court in Nelson, she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News