A Queenstown building company placed into liquidation this week owes a trail of creditors across the country more than $5 million.
Otago Homes Ltd, a franchise of Landmark Homes, was placed into liquidation on Monday.
The first liquidation report was released last night.
It specifies that the company owes $5.3 million to 158 creditors.
It has listed assets of $362,000.
The report, from liquidator Thomas Lee Rodewald, said the company closed due to a lack of profitability.
Creditors, including building merchants, subcontractors and tradespeople, were all over the country, but most were in Queenstown and Central Otago, and the bulk were unsecured.
There were only 29 registered secured creditors.
Employees were owed $30,000, and IRD $145,470.54 though it had not yet filed a claim.
The liquidator would continue to investigate the affairs of the company to determine if there were any insolvent transactions and/or breaches of any relevant legislation by the company or its officers, the report said.
It noted the amounts of some creditors’ claims were disputed by Otago Homes’ director.
It was too early to comment on how creditors would be paid back, the report said.
Landmark chief executive Gary Woodhouse told RNZ in February the franchisee had essentially "run out of money" after struggling with materials and skills shortages in the face of "extreme" housing demand.
Otago Homes had three people on its staff and one director, Andrew Lawrence.
When Otago Homes was placed into administration, the company had eight builds under way in the Otago region.
The Companies Office listed Otago Homes’ owners as two trusts — Auckland-based Capri Trustee Company Ltd and Tauranga-based Sharp Tudhope Trustee Services No 22 Ltd.
