The parent company of the failed Victoria Property Fund is still awaiting answers from fund manager Britannia Management Ltd after a four-month in-house investigation into the fund's collapse.
Following the demise of the Victoria Fund in early June this year, NZ Funds Private Wealth Ltd director Richard James said an "in-house review" had been launched on behalf of clients who had lost money. He had expected the investigation to take months, not weeks.
When contacted on Friday for an update, Mr James said the investigation had not been concluded.
When asked if other investigations were under way, Mr James said trustees Perpetual Trust had confirmed to him, that under regulatory obligations, it had informed the Financial Markets Authority about the Victoria Fund issue.
"Two sets of questions have been responded to. There's still a number of matters which remain unanswered," Mr James said.
The findings of the review would not be made public, because the private company managed funds for private individuals, and "any information was for their benefit only", Mr James said.
He said NZ Funds Private Wealth was relying on Britannia Management's "goodwill".
"We have no legal ability to demand information," Mr James said.
Mr James said the line of questioning included the commercial arrangement between the manager and fund, when certain information was available, when the manager made decisions, on whose advice and what action had been taken.
"To be candid, I don't think we are going to get a response to them," he said.
The Victoria Property Fund and its clients came under the "umbrella" of NZ Funds Private Wealth Ltd, but Mr James said in June the Victoria Fund's management and decision-making had remained with original manager Britannia.
Southern investors in the Victoria Property Fund were told in May they would not receive any return, either capital or interest, on their investments after Heartland New Zealand called in a debt in April on a soured property development in Richmond, near Nelson.
There were 126 mainly southern investors involved, some with multiple holdings in the Victoria fund units, who were owed almost $5 million, while the outstanding debt called in by listed financing company Heartland New Zealand was $8.87 million, as at June 30.
The Victoria Property Fund's managers are Craig Myles, of Dunedin, and Roger Bridge, of Christchurch, who are also co-directors of Victoria's fund manager Britannia Management.
NZ Funds Private Wealth Ltd purchased a minority stake in Mr Myles' Myles Planning Ltd in the early 2000s, then in November 2011 acquired Mr Myles' remaining stake and rebranded it to NZ Funds Private Wealth.
Mr Myles at the time voluntarily stepped aside when NZ Funds Private Wealth undertook the review.
