Serepisos declared bankrupt

Access has been blocked to the head office of Terry Serepisos' Century City group in Wellington.

Serepisos was this morning declared bankrupt owing more than $22 million.

The offices were on the 14th floor of the ASB Bank Tower, which also housed the offices of Wellington Phoenix Football Club.

Century City Developments commercial assets manager Stathis Moutos said he ordered the lifts to the 14th floor be locked off so staff weren't hassled by media. Earlier reports the furniture had been removed was incorrect, he said.

Mr Moutos said he and a couple of other staff were at the office today and that it was business as usual "until we hear otherwise''.

Mr Serepisos was not at the office, Mr Moutos said.

Serepisos was declared bankrupt in the High Court at Wellington this morning despite a last-minute bid to put off the application to allow funds to arrive from a Hong Kong merchant bank.

The total figure identified by the court is $22,461,165.76. The application for bankruptcy was made by South Canterbury Finance.

Serepisos' lawyer John Billington QC asked associate judge David Gendall for four days to allow the overseas money to arrive, however, the judge said it was time for the official assignee to investigate Serepisos' situation and it was in the interests of all parties for Serepisos to be made bankrupt.

Mr Billington had told the judge the first draw-down of the overseas money had been last Thursday.

The overseas finance was the reason no creditors meeting went ahead last week, as Serepisos had originally proposed. Mr Billington said by Friday he would no longer be able to ask for an adjournment if the funds did not arrive and the inevitable would happen.

The overseas loan was for an initial US$5m then US$15m to Century City Trust Ltd, a company for which Serepisos is the sole director and shareholder.

Judge Gendall said he only had before him a letter from an Auckland solicitor and a letter which appeared to confirm the overseas loan.

"I am quite unable to determine the veracity of the arrangement or whether the loaned monies will arrive in the New Zealand banking system as promised," he said.

The judge said the eleventh hour bid was unsatisfactory and if the money did come through Serepisos could apply to come out of bankruptcy early.

South Canterbury Finance has little confidence in the loan bearing fruit and opposed the application, the judge said.

The news comes just days after he lost control of the Wellington Phoenix and creditors claimed possession of furniture and clothes.

A consortium of seven businessmen took control of the club on Friday after he relinquished his licence to the A-League.

Meanwhile, one of Serepisos' creditors has obtained court orders allowing it to seize and sell his household effects, including his clothes.

And on Saturday his baby blue 2007 Ferrari F430 F1 Spider sold at auction for $205,000.

The Welnix group that took over the Phoenix is headed by Kiwibank boss Rob Morrison. Other members are Gareth Morgan, Campbell Gower, Lloyd Morrison, Henry Tait, James Brow and Lib Petagna.

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What is Bankruptcy?

• Bankruptcy deals with debts you are unable to pay.
• If you owe money you can either file for bankruptcy, or one of your creditors can apply to the High Court to have you made bankrupt - provided you owe more than $1000.
• An assignee from the New Zealand Insolvency and Trustee Service administers the debts you incurred. Creditors deal with the assignee rather than you.
• The bankruptcy will be advertised in the public notices of local newspapers.
• You're still responsible for: payments for hire purchases or mortgages, court fines or court orders for reparation, maintenance and child support payments and debts incurred after the date of your bankruptcy.
• Your belongings - including your home, car, expensive appliances, life insurance policies and super schemes - can be sold or cashed in to repay creditors
• You still run your own bank accounts, although the assignee has the account numbers and can look into them periodically and take large sums to pay creditors. You will not have credit cards.
• If you find high-earning employment, the assignee will work out a budget to see how much can go to creditors. If your only income is a benefit, none will go to creditors.
• Anything your domestic partner earns remains theirs.
• Anything valuable you inherit is under the control of the assignee from the time of the death. It goes to your creditors after it is received from the estate, even if that's not until after you're discharged.
• The only assets you can keep under present law are furniture and personal effects and tools of the trade to a value fixed at the Assignee's discretion. You may have a vehicle worth up to $5000.
• The assignee can investigate previous transactions, and can retrieve gifts you made in the past five years. For example, if you've put repayments to one creditor ahead of the rest, they can even things out. They can recover assets put into your family trust or transferred to family members, if you were insolvent when you made the transfer. The assignee will prosecute if there are blatant breaches of law, or if it would be in the public interest.
• You need the assignee's consent to manage a company or to become a business partner, self-employed or employed by your family members. An ordinary, non-managerial wage or salary position in any limited liability company normally doesn't require consent.
• You need consent to be employed by any company, trust, trustee or incorporated society which is managed or controlled by a relative.
• You can't go overseas without the assignee's consent, and you must tell them if your name or address changes.
• If you apply for more than $100 credit you must disclose that you're an undischarged bankrupt.
• You're normally discharged from bankruptcy after three years, but can apply to be discharged earlier.
• From then on, you can become a company manager or director - subject to any conditions or disqualifications imposed.
• You're no longer legally responsible for most or all of the debts you faced at the time of the bankruptcy, including your student loan.
• You're still responsible for the debts incurred since your bankruptcy.
• You don't get back any of your assets held or claimed by the assignee.
• The bankruptcy remains on your credit files for seven years, although your discharge will be noted.
• Your name will also appear on the publicly accessible database of the New Zealand Insolvency and Trustee Service for four years after you are discharged.

Source: consumer.org.nz

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