Kiwibank owed big by Stanley

The first receivers’ report for the failed Stanley Group construction company shows Kiwibank is the biggest creditor.

The report, published on Thursday, also said none of the retention money belonging to subcontractors was held in trust.

The collapse of the Stanley Group, which was placed into liquidation on September 5, left many subcontractors, including carpenters, plumbers, electricians and labour hire companies, facing losses over work on Housing NZ projects run by Stanley, though Housing NZ worked to ensure they were paid for their work.

Receivers Tony Maginness and Jared Booth from Baker Tilly Staples Rodway, who were named receivers by Kiwibank on September 6, said the bank was owed a ‘‘net’’ $482,477.

The Auckland and Waikatobased building company Stanley Group, and related company Tallwood, had about 100 staff and was headquartered in Takapuna with a factory and office in Matamata. Directors told liquidator Damien Grant in September they believed they had under-priced a flagship Housing NZ project by as much as $2 million, prompting the group’s failure.

When Grant published his first liquidator’s report, he estimated the shortfall for creditors to be just under $13.5m, including $9.5m owed to subcontractors and other external creditors. The assets of Stanley Group comprised mostly debts owed by related companies, and ‘‘income tax assets’’, the receivers said in their first report.

The assets had a ‘‘book value’’ of just over $11m on the date the company was placed into liquidation.

The sum included $2.567m of fixed assets including vehicles, tools and office equipment, they said.

Sales of the fixed assets would yield about $700,000, the receivers said.

The first liquidator’s report showed $10m was owed to staff and external creditors when it went into liquidation.

The lack of retentions sparked anger among subcontractors, who voiced their fury at a public meeting in Matamata in September shortly after the collapse. Stanley Group’s directors, Kevin Stanley and Craig Davison, appeared at the meeting to apologise for the harm they had caused for ‘‘contractors, staff, families and Matamata’’.

Grant said in September the subcontractors’ retention money was not held in segregated accounts but directors believed the retentions were covered by a $1.2m project completion bond deposited with Housing NZ.