The rise of one of the country\u2019s biggest residential developers has been dotted by the odd business and courtroom failure, and could yet face defeat in the court of public opinion. More than 10,000 people have signed a parliamentary petition against its plans to build 800 houses on a golf course it\u2019s purchased.<\/p>\n
Wolfbrook Residential, which is embroiled in an increasingly high-profile dispute with north Canterbury\u2019s Pegasus community, has just donated $40,250 to the National Party.<\/p>\n
It coincides with the disclosure, by a local MP,\u00a0that the firm is planning to ask the minister to refer its project into the fast-track consenting scheme. Labour\u2019s Dan Rosewarne met last week with Wolfbrook chief executive Guy Randall and two other executives: \u201cThey did outline their intent to go through the fast-track process,\u201d Rosewarne says. \u201cI expressed my concerns around the National Government\u2019s fast track process, which lacks public consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t suggest that the donation is intended to buy influence. \u201cAny kind of brown envelope situation concerns me,\u201d he says. \u201cThe community are joining their own dots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Randall answered questions from Newsroom this week. It\u2019s the first time Wolfbrook has spoken publicly since announcing the purchase of \u00a0Pegasus golf course on May 15, for a reported $6-7 million from liquidators.<\/p>\n
He is unperturbed that the timing of the donation and the fast-track plan may be a bad look: \u201cGiven it is an election year we have no concerns,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
A few hours after Randall\u2019s meeting with Rosewarne, the Pegasus Residents Group held a public meeting opposing the housing development. More than 400 people turned up, but Wolfbrook was not represented.\u00a0\u201cWe were not invited, and this is understandable given it was a chance for the community to discuss their views,\u201d Randall says.<\/p>\n
The company hasn\u2019t yet committed to the fast-track process, he adds. \u201cWe have made no decision as yet to which approach we may take.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes as Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon speaks out strongly against the housing development, saying the golf course land is not zoned for housing \u2013 that can only be changed with council approval for a private plan change, or a fast-track application.<\/p>\n
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Kieran Read, pictured with Wolfbrook Property Group chief executive Guy Randall and co-owner Steve Brooks, says they have similar values and attributes. \u2018I like that Wolfbrook are a great Kiwi company built on strong foundations and enabling people to take that step to home ownership or investment.\u2019 Photo: Wolfbrook PR<\/p>\n
He\u2019s told Housing Minister Chris Bishop that using the fast-track process to undermine the council\u2019s carefully developed plan for the Pegasus area and its infrastructure would be unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter several years of consulting on our district plan with the wider community, including identification of areas that are appropriate for housing, the use of fast-track for this proposal is not appropriate,\u201d Gordon tells Newsroom. \u201cI will be writing to Minister Bishop seeking a decision from him to decline the use of fast-track for this proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that may be a big ask. Seven of the 24 projects approved under this Government\u2019s \u00a0Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 are linked to people or organisations that have made political donations, totalling more than $1 million. RNZ reports that only one donor\u2019s project has been declined, and another withdrawn. <\/p>\n
Among those approved, a Carter Group project was given the tick after an $80,000 donation to National, and developer Winton has had two projects green-lit after more than $210,000 in donations to National, Act and NZ First from founders Chris and Michaela\u00a0Meehan and their businesses.<\/p>\n
Wolfbrook\u2019s founders will be hoping Bishop looks similarly kindly on referring their Pegasus project into the fast-track process.<\/p>\n
The Pegasus Residents Group, not so much. President Matt James says the community\u2019s concerns are that the fast-track process allows fewer opportunities for impacted parties to be heard, and it\u2019s a very contentious issue.<\/p>\n
Should zoning and consenting for big housing projects be decided locally, or by a central government-appointed panel? \u201cI have a very strong view,\u201d he replies. <\/p>\n
Waimakariri Council only completed its district plan review last year, James says. It cost a lot of money and entailed a lot of consultation. It was informed by research on the future needs of the district, and baked in future developments for consideration and consenting. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey decided where things should or shouldn\u2019t be in the plan, and that went through a very stringent public consultation process, and that was signed off. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow third party developers come in and wish to change that. It\u2019s not in line with the research and consultation that was done with the community at large and the council, and it\u2019s certainly not what the residents of Pegasus would want.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Wolfbrook, this political donation comes after a rollercoaster 12 months in which it was slapped down in two High Court cases for its handling of property acquisitions and developments.<\/p>\n
Courting difficulties<\/p>\n
In the High Court at Christchurch, Judge Dale Lester found for Christchurch City Council in a dispute over responsibility for overhanging balconies that Wolfbrook had planned to build in a \u201csubstantial\u201d 60-unit residential development. The company had to drop the plans at great cost.<\/p>\n
Wolfbrook and its directors, Steve Brooks and James Cooney, confidentially settled another $110,000 claim out of court, after Wellington High Court judge Owen Paulsen slammed the company\u2019s conduct of the case.<\/p>\n
This case was taken by an Upper Hutt homeowner, Pam Bright, who\u2019d sold her house to a Wolfbrook subsidiary and bought a new property for $938,000 \u2013 only for Wolfbrook to then renege on its purchase.<\/p>\n
She took them to court, but they dragged their heels. According to the judge, the case became \u201cbogged down in procedural skirmishes\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe delays impose a greater burden upon Ms Bright than upon a commercial entity such as Wolfbrook, but it is Wolfbrook that has primarily caused the delays which should not be allowed to continue,\u201d Judge Paulsen ruled. \u201cI do not consider the argument Wolfbrook wishes to advance meritorious or of sufficient importance (generally or to the parties) to justify the substantial delay and expense of an appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooks and Cooney had already put the subsidiary company, Fix My Property Ltd, into liquidation. After an interim judgment in Bright\u2019s favour, they settled.<\/p>\n
Bright and her lawyers have declined to comment this week, but a liquidation report reveals Fix My Property Ltd\u2019s related parties (presumably Wolfbrook and its directors) have now settled the legal dispute with the company\u2019s creditor. Bright has accordingly withdrawn her claim for $109,946.<\/p>\n
Despite the seemingly incontrovertible evidence from the liquidators\u2019 report, Wolfbrook denies having settled: \u201cAlthough we have concluded the matter, your source is incorrect and potentially in breach of contract,\u201d Guy Randall says.<\/p>\n
The report says the other three unsecured creditors have also now been paid out: Tax Matters Ltd, Cooney Lees Morgan Law, and Debit and Credit Outsourcing Ltd.<\/p>\n
Tax Matters Ltd was Wolfbrook\u2019s accounting firm, and its director Brenton Hunt has handled other solvent liquidations for Brooks and Cooney.<\/p>\n
He confirms his debt has now been settled. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t been paid some fees when they went into liquidation, but they paid their money afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunt explains that a solvent liquidation is a formal way of winding up a company, once it\u2019s stopped trading and disposed of its assets and paid its debts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t file your annual return, a company can remove itself from the register and there are tens of thousands of companies that happens to a year. But technically speaking, someone can put them back on the register and they\u2019re not cleanly removed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a business at the end of its life, the cleanest way is to do a solvent liquidation, and then a solvency practitioner goes through the process just to clean it all up and put it to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
No more Moola<\/p>\n
Brooks was also a director, and Cooney a shareholder, in a group of companies that made headlines when it went bust, some time after the two Wolfbrook directors exited. NZ Fintech Group Holdings, its subsidiary online lender\u00a0Moola.co.nz and associated companies, were put into liquidation in 2022.<\/p>\n
Moola had run foul of the Commerce Commission and responsible lending rules, in 2021 and 2022. In March 2021 it agreed to repay\u00a0$2.8m to borrowers\u00a0after admitting it had charged unreasonable credit and default fees.<\/p>\n
In July 2022, the Commerce Commission\u00a0started legal action\u00a0against Moola for alleged cartel behaviour in trying to control the price of online advertising on Google.<\/p>\n
Brooks and Cooney had earlier been involved, primarily through Christchurch-based investor companies Taurus Investments and Milford Capital (not to be confused with Auckland-based investment specialist and fund manager Milford Asset Management). <\/p>\n
Taurus and Milford were creditors in NZ Fintech Group Holdings\u2019 receivership and liquidation, but by then Brooks and Cooney had exited, in July 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve Brooks resigned as a director 18 months prior to receivership and had ceased operational aspects two years prior to receivership,\u201d Guy Randall says. \u201cMilford and Taurus were amongst the largest creditors affected by the business collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Taurus liquidator, Damien Grant, pointed to \u201can underlying structural insolvency\u201d in the group of businesses, that became untenable during the Covid economic crisis, and with CCCFA law changes that more closely regulated lending.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe group\u2019s business model involved raising capital from investors and creditors and providing loans with higher interest rates, involving a higher level of risk,\u201d Grant reported. The business model required \u201ccontinuous injections of fresh capital\u201d, and the inability to secure more funding in 2022 led to the whole group\u2019s failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The rise of one of the country\u2019s biggest residential developers has been dotted by the odd business and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[44,2086,541,8479,8480,54,8478],"class_list":["post-20341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-golf","tag-government","tag-housing","tag-infrastructure","tag-local-government","tag-news","tag-newsroom-pro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}