Court report: the $15 million that nearly got away
Hamish McNicol drills into oil maverick “Marvellous Marvin” and the overlooked $15 million royalty.
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Infrastructure
Marvin Lee Smith, a Texan known as “Marvellous Marvin” who made millions drilling for oil until his death in 1995, has left a $15 million surprise for his stepdaughter.
A judgment from the High Court at Wellington this week revealed an offshore oil and gas drilling services company Mr Smith established in 1986 was holding on to a rather valuable royalty interest which had been “overlooked.”
JFP (NZ) International folded when he died in 1995, but his stepdaughter Wendy Sampson, only liquidated and deregistered the company in New Zealand in 2011.
It had only $5175 in cash and a $7.9 million related-party debt, while a royalty interest it owned in relation to a mining licence was thought to have no value.
Ms Sampson recently found out, however, the mining licence has been used with the Kupe gas field and had accumulated payments worth somewhere between $10-$15 million for the company.
Those payments could only be made to the company if it was restored to the Companies Office and the liquidation reversed, however.
As executrix of Mr Smith’s estate, Ms Sampson made such an application to the High Court in May, which Associate Judge Warwick Smith granted.
“There appears to be a substantial asset that was overlooked at the time the company was removed from the register, and I agree that justice and equity require that the company should be restored so that it and its shareholders can obtain the benefit of that asset.”
NBR readers noted Mr Smith’s colourful history and some digging uncovered a 1995 Shoeshine column on the “Texan wildcatter” taking a billion dollar lawsuit against Fletcher Challenge.
The suit had alleged that Fletcher Challenge and its oil exploration subsidiaries misused confidential information, although it was apparently settled.
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Thu, 23 Jun 2016
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Court report: the $15 million that nearly got away
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