Shipping company Reef Group scuppered
Reef Group, which sports former All Black Michael Jones on its management team, has been placed into receivership.
Shipping company Reef Group, which sports former All Black Michael Jones on its management team, has been placed into receivership.
Mr Jones' brief biography disappeared from the Reef Group website yesterday, just after it was announced PwC had been appointed receivers of the company and its numerous subsidiaries, which employ 120 staff.
Reef Group provides sea freight services between New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Interests include a joint venture fish processing operation in partnership with the Niue government.
The private company is majority-owned by executive director Phillip McNicholl, who started working in the company with his father, Tom, when it launched a shipping service between New Zealand and Fiji in 1967.
Mr Jones joined the company as group strategic manager in 2006 and is also a shareholder alongside executive directors John Gresson and Kim Gordon.
Mr Jones also leads Reef Group’s fruit juice export business Pure Pacifika, which ran into financial strife earlier this year because of an unrelated corruption allegation investigation involving controversial Chinese businessman and major client Jack Chen.
Reef Group’s major creditors are ANZ and UDC Finance.
PwC partner partner Colin McCloy says PwC will work diligently with relevant parties on the possible sale of the business and its assets.
In the meantime, it will be business as usual for its employees and contractors across the region, he says.
Georgina Bond
Tue, 27 Nov 2012
Tue, 27 Nov 2012
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Shipping company Reef Group scuppered
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