Failed Wagyu beef operation owes another $3m in fresh liquidations

Friday, 17 January 2025

Liquidators are looking to sell a meat processing facility in Gore after two more companies in Arato Tsujino’s NZ Wagyu group went under.

A collapsed Wagyu beef operation already owing $10 million is now short another $3m after a meat processing facility in Gore closed its doors.

Origin Corporation Ltd, owned by Canterbury businessman Arato Tsujino and Auckland investor Guanxiong Liu, was placed in liquidation on December 19. Its subsidiary, Blue Sky Meats (Gore) Ltd, followed suit a day later.

The latter, which traded as Black Origin Meat Processors Ltd, owned an abattoir in Gore which processed Wagyu beef until last month. It bought the facility from longstanding Southland meat processor Blue Sky Pasture in 2021. Blue Sky Pasture is otherwise unconnected.

The liquidator’s report for Origin Corporation cited a dispute between Tsujino and Liu “which was not capable of being resolved”.

It comes after Tsujino’s seven other Wagyu companies went under in June owing about $10m, and an eighth company, Shiwase Kobe Cuisine Ltd (trading as Black Origin), entered administration and then liquidation in July.

Former All Black Andy Ellis with businessman Arato Tsujino. Ellis has previously promoted Wagyu beef with Tsujino at food shows, but last year said he had no financial interest or involvement in any of Tsujino’s companies.

The liquidator for Shiwase cited the same shareholder dispute. An Ashburton family subsequently bought Tsujino’s Black Origin brand and is unrelated to the recent liquidations.

Origin Corporation, a passive investment company, owes $3.2m to creditors, including accountancy firm Greenhawk Ltd, Inland Revenue, Tsujino’s main failed Wagyu company (New Zealand Wagyu Co Ltd) and one of Liu’s companies.

Blue Sky Meats (Gore) has a similar creditors list, but largely owes $2.7m to its parent company through related party loans.

Liquidator Simon Dalton hoped a large sum of money could be recovered through the property’s sale.

Origin Corporation advanced cash to Blue Sky Meats (Gore) for it to purchase a leasehold property in Gore ‒ the abattoir. Blue Sky Meats then leased the facility to Black Origin Meat Processors (Gore) Ltd ‒ another similarly-named company Tsujino owns.

Liquidator Simon Dalton said he and his colleague moved to terminate the tenancy before Christmas but allowed beef on site to be processed first.

The liquidators are now looking to sell the “reasonably large property” and other assets within it, Dalton said. A few potential buyers were already interested, he said, but the property was not yet on the market.

Dalton hoped the full $2.7m owed could be recovered through a sale but noted the market was “not as buoyant” as it had been.

Tsujino is currently in Japan and could not be reached for comment before deadline. He was born in Kobe, considered the home of Wagyu beef, but went to high school in New Zealand and still lives in Canterbury.

Tsujino had business interests in Riverside Market restaurant Black Burger and Mad Samurai in Auckland, as well as a Christchurch massage therapist, vegetable growing business and investment company.