Progress soon onBlue Chip debt woes

 LONG-SUFFERING INVESTORS who lost money in the Blue Chip group of companies may receive some good news at the end of this month, two years after the property investment outfit collapsed owing creditors $70 million.

Blue Chip liquidator Jeff Meltzer, of Meltzer Mason Heath, said he should have his final report on the collapsed companies completed at the end of this month, and was hopeful of being able to recover some money for investors.

"It looks pretty good to be taking some recovery actions on behalf of investors," he said.

Meltzer would not say whether he would be seeking to recover money from individuals or companies involved in Blue Chip's property spruiking operations, because he hoped to be able to negotiate settlement plans with the parties concerned, which could then be put to investors for their approval.

"We've been successful in the past in doing out of court settlements that have been far more advantageous to creditors [than pursuing legal action]," he said.

Among those most likely to benefit from any money recovered would be about 700 investors who paid deposits to Blue Chip companies for investment apartments that never materialised.

However, previous promises made about recovering money for Blue Chip investors through out of court settlements have amounted to nothing.

Blue Chip's founder Mark Bryers personally guaranteed a $38m loan the company made and pledged a further $25m to repay investors, but that money proved to be as elusive as the phantom apartments investors paid deposits on.

Bryers has since been bankrupted and is facing a raft of charges brought by the Companies Office over his management of several Blue Chip-related companies. He is due to reappear in the Auckland District Court next month in relation to the Companies Office charges.

There has also been criticism over the length of time the liquidation has taken and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees this has generated for the liquidators.

Meltzer said he originally hoped to have his final report completed by last October, but the investigation had taken longer than expected because it was in two parts. One part was funded with money provided by the Ministry of Economic Development, but the second part had to be funded by the liquidators themselves.

"We were successful in getting money from the MED for the first phase, but weren't able to get money for the second phase. So we've been doing that ourselves, along with the legal advisers, so it's been a bit slower because we've had to fit it around other work. But we are hopeful of having the report finalised by the end of January."

- © Fairfax NZ News