The company was owned by Regan Williamson who is now living in Canada, having left the country just before Christmas telling staff he was off on a short break — but he never came back.
His wife, who is Canadian, and three children moved to Canada about the middle of last year.
The liquidation application was granted by Associate Judge Lester. Two liquidators from Auckland, Wendy Somerville and Malcolm Hollis, were appointed.
The court did not provide the exact details of the amount of money owed by the company to the Otago Daily Times, which was not in court in Christchurch.
Inland Revenue had applied to put the company into liquidation over a tax debt of $1.16million. Inland Revenue declined to comment yesterday.
Staff at the company’s Dunedin headquarters were unsure of what was happening with the business when approached yesterday morning.
The business also operates in Queenstown, where it started 20 years ago.
One manager in the Dunedin office said he knew nothing about what was going on and was waiting until the end of the day.
About 25 people worked at the Dunedin business in Kaikorai Valley Rd but many had already left, after being offered opportunities at other engineering businesses in Dunedin.
Another worker was helping clean out the workshop and obtaining equipment for other businesses who had lent it to Dart Engineering.
The man confirmed staff had been paid this week.
The man said the business had been a victim of an ever changing construction business. The company had just finished a job at the outpatient building for the new Dunedin hospital, he said.
The company’s showroom for light fabrication further along Kaikorai Valley Rd was empty and was believed to have been cleaned out by staff in recent days.
A source told the Otago Daily Times yesterday many people in the South were wondering where cars and boats owned by Mr Williamson were now stored and who owned them.
Mr Williamson was believed to have set up an engineering business in Canada, operating in Red Deer, a city in Alberta with a population of 100,000.
Mr Williamson had competed in jetboat marathons to an international level and placed in the top three at the world jetboat marathon championships in recent years.
He sent a boat to the world championships in the United States in 2020 just before Covid-19 struck. The championships were canned because of the pandemic and the boat and Mr Williamson reunited in 2022.
