Mainzeal

Mainzeal Property and Construction was one of New Zealand’s largest construction companies until its collapse in 2013, which left a long trail of unpaid subcontractor creditors. The collapse exposed how head contractors used withheld retention money as working capital and how subcontractors lost that money entirely when the contractor failed. It was the principal trigger for New Zealand’s statutory retention-money regime introduced by the Construction Contracts Amendment Act 2015.

Connections

• New Zealand — jurisdiction of the collapse, source: 2013
• Contractor Insolvency and Subcontractor Risk — Mainzeal is an NZ example, source: 2013
• Construction Retention Payments — retention money lost in the collapse, source: 2013
• Retention Trust and Project Bank Accounts — reform Mainzeal triggered, source: 2015