Forestlands.

[nztx]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/pro...e-by-receivers

Forestlands founder's home for sale by receivers

The 1144sq m home and sprawling rural estate at 64 Thorpe-Orinoco Rd in Ngatimoti, near Motueka, has been placed up for sale by BDO accountants and insolvency practitioners Rees Logan and Diana Matchett, who have been appointed receivers of the Kearns Family Trust.

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has filed criminal charges against Kearns in relation to the Forestlands group of companies he was founder and sole director of, for alleged disclosure and financial record keeping breaches.

In 2018, 18 Forestlands subsidiary companies were put into liquidation, with that process still ongoing.

The FMA has previously said that after Motueka-based Forestlands group ran into financial difficulty it started a process to sell forestry assets in mid-2015, but investors were allegedly not notified or consulted. In October 2016, the forestry was sold for about $23.5 million and in early 2017, at the direction of the FMA, $18 million was placed in a trust for investors.

It's certainly taken a while to reach this point !

[nztx]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111...investors?rm=a

Disappointment at large losses for Forestlands investors


3 Apr 2019 Article with a mugshot of Mr Kearns


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https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/ind...mpanies-by-fma

Criminal charges filed in relation to Forestlands companies by FMA


9 Sep 2020 Article


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https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/ind...orting-charges

Forestlands founder Rowan Kearns defends financial reporting charges


20 Oct 2020 Article

[nztx]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/107...-mum-over-sale

Forestlands director explains why he kept mum over sale

13 Oct 2018 Article

[Sideshow Bob]

Would be interesting what the value of those forests would be worth now....??

Obviously not a golfer by the state of his back yard!!

[nztx]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/...l-new-ventures

Failed company director borrowing money from family to bankroll new ventures

The director of a failed group of forestry companies has been left “financially destitute”; and has borrowed money from his adult children to bankroll new business ventures.

On Thursday afternoon, founder and sole director of the failed Forestlands group of companies Rowan Kearns was sentenced to four months’ community detention in Nelson District Court. About a dozen shareholders watched proceedings via an audiovisual link.

In January, Kearns pleaded guilty to a representative charge of making a false statement under the Financial Reporting Act relating to the non-disclosure of financial details when taking out a bank loan, two representative charges of failing to deliver financial statements, and a representative charge of failing to lodge financial statements.

The Forestlands group invested in forests, raising money from “mum and dad” investors.

Look what just showed up in Nelson Court pleading poverty and destitute


but borrowing from family not a problem for their new ventures

However, forests owned by the group were not harvested before the companies were put into liquidation in 2018 by the High Court in Nelson at the request of the Financial Markets Authority Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko (FMA), after investors protested to the regulator.

Instead, the forests were sold in 2015 without the knowledge of investors who owned non-voting shares in the Forestland companies.

Stuff reported in 2019 that Kearns said he didn't tell shareholders at the time because he feared that if the general market found out he would never obtain the price he did for the forests in Southland, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa.