Crisis, what crisis? says millionaire developer
Tony Wall - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 04 January 2009
MULTI-MILLIONAIRE REAL estate agent, property developer and racehorse owner Don Ha is promising to pay all outstanding bills following accusations he has been slow to pay sub-contractors, some of whom say they had a miserable Christmas because they didn't get paid.
One South Auckland builder who worked on a Ha development said many families were suffering. "He's promising this and promising that. He promises to pay half, then pays quarter," the man said. He asked not to be named because he was still hoping to receive his money.
"He's threatening to put the company into liquidation if anyone pushes him, then no one gets any money. It's getting heated."
But Ha denies there is any dispute and says he will honour all outstanding debts. He claimed he had not been affected by the economic downturn because he did not take risks and avoided taking out second mortgages.
Ha, who arrived in New Zealand from Vietnam as a penniless refugee and amassed a fortune estimated by the National Business Review at $50m, has built dozens of new homes in poor areas of South Auckland, some of which have not sold.
Last month he organised a "mega-auction" where 100 properties were put on the block. Only a handful of the properties sold at the auction and Ha was criticised by fellow agents when it was revealed that more than 20 were owned by him.
Ha rose to national prominence last year when he bought a colt by Zabeel out of the champion mare Sunline for a record $2m. In conjunction with the Sunday Star-Times he ran a competition to name the horse, and it was eventually named Sun Ruler.
Ha also sponsored the $200,000 City of Auckland Cup at Ellerslie on New Year's Day and said that was proof that he was not in financial trouble.
The Star-Times has learned that Ha took possession of a Maserati sports car worth close to $200,000 in 2008, though it is on finance.
It is understood one of Ha's development companies owes several hundred thousand dollars to one firm for a development in Mangere and has missed several large payments.
A source who is owed money but did not want to be named for fear of not getting paid said Ha had always been good at paying bills but had missed payments in the past few months.
"I believe he will pay. He is behind but he's been making payments. He is trying and is paying, albeit slowly. A lot of people out there are having cashflow problems, he's not the only one."
Ha denied any dispute. "No one's complained, everyone's happy. Prior to Christmas we paid quite a lot of people so they can have their Christmas. There is an agreement that we will settle in the New Year, in January, they are happy with that."
One of Ha's contractors speculated that he was suffering from the economic crisis, but Ha said he had been insulated from the crisis because he had no second mortgages.
"I know a lot of companies out there that can't pay their bills ... that's not me. I don't have any second mortgages or finance company that finances me so I don't have that problem. If anybody has disputes with me they can come and get their money. As far as I know no one is not happy with me. I don't owe millions of dollars to anyone.
"I know it's tough out there for everybody, but not for me. I don't take that much risk."
He said if workers hadn't been paid it was probably because their employers, firms which had been sub-contracted to carry out work on his developments, were in trouble.
Property developer Rick Martin, of the Cornerstone Group, said Ha would have to be the only person in the industry who had not been affected by the economic downturn.
"You'd have to have fairly unusual circumstances for someone in the property industry not to be affected."
Tony Wall - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 04 January 2009
MULTI-MILLIONAIRE REAL estate agent, property developer and racehorse owner Don Ha is promising to pay all outstanding bills following accusations he has been slow to pay sub-contractors, some of whom say they had a miserable Christmas because they didn't get paid.
One South Auckland builder who worked on a Ha development said many families were suffering. "He's promising this and promising that. He promises to pay half, then pays quarter," the man said. He asked not to be named because he was still hoping to receive his money.
"He's threatening to put the company into liquidation if anyone pushes him, then no one gets any money. It's getting heated."
But Ha denies there is any dispute and says he will honour all outstanding debts. He claimed he had not been affected by the economic downturn because he did not take risks and avoided taking out second mortgages.
Ha, who arrived in New Zealand from Vietnam as a penniless refugee and amassed a fortune estimated by the National Business Review at $50m, has built dozens of new homes in poor areas of South Auckland, some of which have not sold.
Last month he organised a "mega-auction" where 100 properties were put on the block. Only a handful of the properties sold at the auction and Ha was criticised by fellow agents when it was revealed that more than 20 were owned by him.
Ha rose to national prominence last year when he bought a colt by Zabeel out of the champion mare Sunline for a record $2m. In conjunction with the Sunday Star-Times he ran a competition to name the horse, and it was eventually named Sun Ruler.
Ha also sponsored the $200,000 City of Auckland Cup at Ellerslie on New Year's Day and said that was proof that he was not in financial trouble.
The Star-Times has learned that Ha took possession of a Maserati sports car worth close to $200,000 in 2008, though it is on finance.
It is understood one of Ha's development companies owes several hundred thousand dollars to one firm for a development in Mangere and has missed several large payments.
A source who is owed money but did not want to be named for fear of not getting paid said Ha had always been good at paying bills but had missed payments in the past few months.
"I believe he will pay. He is behind but he's been making payments. He is trying and is paying, albeit slowly. A lot of people out there are having cashflow problems, he's not the only one."
Ha denied any dispute. "No one's complained, everyone's happy. Prior to Christmas we paid quite a lot of people so they can have their Christmas. There is an agreement that we will settle in the New Year, in January, they are happy with that."
One of Ha's contractors speculated that he was suffering from the economic crisis, but Ha said he had been insulated from the crisis because he had no second mortgages.
"I know a lot of companies out there that can't pay their bills ... that's not me. I don't have any second mortgages or finance company that finances me so I don't have that problem. If anybody has disputes with me they can come and get their money. As far as I know no one is not happy with me. I don't owe millions of dollars to anyone.
"I know it's tough out there for everybody, but not for me. I don't take that much risk."
He said if workers hadn't been paid it was probably because their employers, firms which had been sub-contracted to carry out work on his developments, were in trouble.
Property developer Rick Martin, of the Cornerstone Group, said Ha would have to be the only person in the industry who had not been affected by the economic downturn.
"You'd have to have fairly unusual circumstances for someone in the property industry not to be affected."
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