Aside from salary and bonuses over more than a decade, Mr Duncan has now been paid a total $1.39 million by parent company Port Otago.
Port Otago chairman Dave Faulkner delivered his half-year trading report to owner the Otago Regional Council on Wednesday.
His briefing included disclosure that a final $400,000 had been paid to cancel Mr Duncan’s 2008 sale and purchase agreement, which meant the issue was now formally "off the books" and Chalmers can now sell the 2.5ha of North Island land which had been committed to Mr Duncan.
After the meeting, Port Otago chief executive Geoff Plunket said the latest payment was not further compensation, but a separate, negotiated settlement which would result in Mr Duncan having no interest in the development on the outskirts of Hamilton.
"That’s finally off the books of Chalmers [Properties] and they can get on with what they do," Mr Plunket said.
It would appear the saving grace for Port Otago in the long-running saga is that while Mr Duncan was "bought out" for $400,000, his 10% share is likely to represent millions of dollars for Port Otago, given the escalation in prices and steady sales in the popular Hamilton precinct, which is beside a new state highway on the outskirts of Hamilton.
Mr Duncan was hired in 1999-2000 and left Port Otago in early 2012, having been sold a 10% stake in the then fledgling Hamilton subdivision development for $403,000, in March 2007.
However, in a complicated unravelling of the deal done originally to "incentivise" Mr Duncan, amid rising property values and development costs, Port Otago has negotiated the $400,000 buy-out of his stake.
The Hamilton development was part of a wider 50-50 joint venture with Port Otago and a private North Island company.
However, details of Port Otago’s and Mr Duncan’s initial incentivisation arrangement were not finalised, either by the Hamilton joint venture nor Chalmers Properties board, and Port Otago’s board became involved in 2006.
In the meantime, land values increased substantially, in part from a plan change in Hamilton where the land values rose from rural, at $9 per sqm, to newly zoned industrial, at $80 per sqm.
In the end, Mr Duncan paid $2.8million instead of $403,000 for his 10%, missing out on a huge capital gain.
An agreement was finalised with Mr Duncan, who was be "partially compensated" for the increased purchase price by Chalmers Properties paying 75% of the development costs, including tax.
It was agreed Chalmers would pay $1.25 million in compensation, of which $991,000 was paid.
The $263,000 balance was not paid.
Instead the separate $400,000 buy-out was negotiated, and accepted.
Mr Plunket said the initial deal was for Mr Duncan to buy several land packages totalling 3.5ha, but he took up only 1ha. Mr Plunket was circumspect about details of the negotiated buy-out, saying only that Mr Duncan had approached Port Otago to buy him out and negotiations had ‘‘taken some time’’.
When the incentivisation deal first became public it was reported as an "unprecedented" offer by Port Otago, and then port company chairman John Gilks had called it a "one-off".
Two years ago, it was reported Port Otago would potentially reap more than $1million from huge gains in land value from Mr Duncan’s 10% holding.
Mr Plunket said for commercial reasons he could not release specific financial details.
"Yes, there have been gains. We’re pleased with the outcome and looking forward to opening up the development further."
Separately, $7 million of settlements at Hamilton are expected in the next five months.
Chalmers Properties has completed the second stage of civil works in Hamilton, with a further 10.5 ha of developed land for sale, and has started construction of a multi-unit warehouse development at the industrial park.
