Updated post
Mon, 29 Feb 2016 at 7:28 p.m.
The NBR (National Business Review) on Monday, 22 February 2016, featured an article by Christchurch Bureau reporter Chris Hutching, who says:
“The latest problem [for Delta] involves the Noble Park subdivision (managed by interests associated with Apple Fields) on the western outskirts of Christchurch where some of the properties are the subject of a mortgagee sale. Tenders close on February 12 and parties related to the developers and Delta are understood to be bidders.”
And
“Another hurdle has been a series of actions by a handful of neighbours who have lodged caveats. They were the unsuccessful respondents in last year’s High Court case brought by Gold Band but have subsequently appealed. However, their cause of action may become null and void in the case of a mortgagee sale, according to another court ruling.”
█ To read the full article, go to NBR Print and NBR ONLINE subscriptions: http://www.nbr.co.nz/subscribe
Previously, What if? Dunedin sources had it that Jim Boult and Mike Coburn were back in the picture…. two names mentioned in Auditor-General Lyn Provost’s investigation and report (March 2014) on Delta’s failure with subdivisions at Luggate and Jacks Point.
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In a more recent article, NBR business journalist Tim Hunter gets stuck into Delta issues – providing a general overview on concerns he has with Delta’s position to date. More is likely to follow.
The National Business Review
February 26, 2016 Page 2 Comment – Hunter’s Corner
Tim Hunter
How council company handed millions to shaky developer
The risks of local authority over-reach are again on display in Dunedin
Excerpt (closing):
The timing, size and nature of the security deals between Delta and Noble imply the council company was advancing millions of dollars in credit to Noble to finance the work.
Delta’s accounts say one counterparty defaulted on two principal sums of $6.35m and $5m, as well as other financial commitments, although it held security in the form of mortgage and general security agreements.
The implication is that Delta is owed the eyewatering sum of $11.3m by one single customer, plus interest and penalties, with the only hope of recovery being from the exercise of its security over property in the subdivision, which may or may not be worth enough to cover it. Tenders closed on a mortgagee sale on February 12.
If so, Hunter’s Corner is amazed that a council-owned company would take on work on such terms and hopes it will in future remember that ratepayers unwillingly carry the can for its cock-ups.
It should also be a reminder that councils would do well to kill off their commercial risks.
█ To read the full article, go to NBR Print and NBR ONLINE subscriptions: http://www.nbr.co.nz/subscribe
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Related Posts and Comments:
● 28.2.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble… If I were a rich man / Delta Director
● 27.2.16 Delta #EpicFail Noble Subdivision Consent : Strictly Optional
● 27.2.16 Delta #NUCLEAR EpicFail —Noble Subdivision : Incompetent…
● 25.2.16 Delta #EpicFail: Mayor Cull —Forced Sale Fundamentals 101
● 24.2.16 Delta #EpicFail —Noble Subdivision: Cameron, Crombie & McKenzie
● 23.2.16 DCC: DCHL half year result to 31 December 2015
19.2.16 Delta: Update on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recovery
15.2.16 Delta / DCHL not broadcasting position on subdivision mortgagee tender
30.1.16 DCC Rates: LOCAL CONTEXT not Stats —Delta and Hippopotamuses
● 29.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision ● Some forensics
● 21.1.16 Delta #EpicFail —Yaldhurst Subdivision
21.1.16 DCC LTAP 2016/17 budget discussion #ultrahelpfulhints
10.1.16 Infrastructure ‘open to facile misinterpretation’…. or local ignore
15.12.15 Noble property subdivision aka Yaldhurst Village | Mortgagee Tender
21.9.15 DCC: Not shite (?) hitting the fan but DVL
20.7.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA #LGOIMA
1.4.15 Christchurch subdivisions: Heat gone?
24.3.15 Noble property subdivision —DELTA
23.3.15 Noble property subdivision: “Denials suggest that we have not learned.”
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II…. Noble property subdivision
● 14.5.14 (via DCC website) Larsen Report February 2012
A recent governance review of the Dunedin City Council companies was conducted by Warren Larsen.
● 20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General
Inquiry into property investments by Delta Utility Services Limited at Luggate and Jacks Point
█ For more, enter the term *delta* in the search box at right.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.
What if? Dunedin... 
Parties related to Delta and the DCC are bidders!
Delta should give up on running power and become exactly what it is in practice a Gambling Company.
Delta gambling, we lose money and we chase it down the river using more and more of yours.
Reminds me of the woman who stole millions from her employer to fund her poker machine addiction.
Let’s hope the judge gives these gamblers a similar sentence with a bit tacked on for quantum. She only stole $350,000.
Delta directors and staff have chased $24 million and counting for Noble, $12 million for Jacks Point, $9 million for Luggate.
That quantum should see all of them locked up for at least 100 times her sentence.
They won’t be presiding over thefts of that magnitude again. Perhaps a toothbrush at best.