Steel & Tube to defend $1.75 mln lease contract claim

Monday 20th October 2014

Steel & Tube Holdings, the steel products manufacturer, says it is defending a $1.75 million claim in the High Court today over a disputed lease contract.

The Lower Hutt-based company denies any legal responsibility for losses relating to a contract lease contract between its former subsidiary Stube Industries, which was liquidated last year, and Lewis Holdings, it said in a statement. Steel & Tube will defend proceedings at the High Court in Wellington today after an extensive period of negotiations, it said.

McDonald Vague's Boris van Delden and Peri Finnigan were appointed replacement liquidators of Stube in July last year after the resignation of Stephen Tietjens and Peter Chatfield of Accru Smith Chilcott and applied to the High Court to pool the assets of Steel & Tube as one entity, according to their latest report. Lewis Holdings filed an application for directions in September last year, which the liquidators later joined as second plaintiffs.

The June liquidators' report said they had received creditor claims of $2.62 million relating to the lease obligation, including the present value of rental payments.

Shares of Steel & Tube slipped 0.4 percent to $2.81 on Friday, and have dropped 7.9 percent this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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