Director facing investigation as Wagyu empire debt climbs to $20m

Tuesday, 29 July 2025

The director of a failed Canterbury Wagyu beef operation is facing investigation as his companies’ debts climb to about $20 million.

Liquidators continue to pick over the remains of 15 companies in the empire built by Christchurch man Arato Tsujino. Seven of them went into voluntary liquidation in June last year. Eight more followed between July and December.

Liquidator Brenton Hunt alleged they had been trading recklessly “for some time”. Prosecutions under the Companies Act 1993 were rare, he said, but a probe was warranted in this case.

“Once [we] have dealt with the remaining issues of the liquidation [we] will be investigating an action against the director.

“Action is fairly probable but still some time away.”

Tsujino told The Press over the weekend that he would provide a statement “in the next few days”, but did not respond by deadline.

Do you know more? Email reporters@press.co.nz

His business was wagyu cattle management. He started his operation in 2015 but expanded following a deal with SFJ Holdings, a Japanese meat wholesaler.

SFJ is listed as a creditor of Tsujino’s centrepiece company ‒ New Zealand Wagyu Co Ltd, which Hunt said this week owed $15.5m to unsecured creditors.

Once money owed within the rest of the labyrinthine network was added he estimated the debt would be “closer to $20m”.

According to Hunt’s first report on New Zealand Wagyu Co, the company managed about 30,000 cattle on about 50 farms on behalf of SFJ. It and Tsujino’s other companies had invested in building feeding sheds, rearing calves, an abattoir, a butchery, a commercial kitchen, jerky business and hospitality. It fell into substantial arrears with farmers and suppliers, despite receiving prepayment from SFJ.

“As a result of discovering these discrepancies … [SFJ] ceased further payments to New Zealand Wagyu Co and determined instead to pay farmers and suppliers directly,” the report said.

Shannon Swete, SFJ Holdings’ only New Zealand-based director, this month told The Press business was progressing and meat was being exported. “As a brand it is growing in popularity,” he said. “It’s high-quality, low-volume product.” He declined to say how much SFJ was owed by NZ Wagyu.

Millions still owed

As SFJ has forged ahead and Tsujino’s companies’ assets liquidated, some of the dozens of creditors left out of pocket say they have finally been paid. Southland freezing workers and North Island dairy farmers were among the lucky minority.

The latest NZ Wagyu liquidator’s report, filed last week, showed $1.9m had been recouped from asset sales. A $600,000 debt to IRD had been settled and staff were paid outstanding wages and holiday pay of more than $180,000. Secured creditors were paid in full ‒ another $300,000.

Manawatū farmer Murray Strawbridge said he was owed for one month’s grazing when NZ Wagyu folded.

“I thought that I had lost that income; however, the new owner [SFJ] came through about three months later and paid the outstanding amount. They have continued to pay promptly and I have found them great people to deal with.”

Two other farmers contacted confirmed they had been paid in full.

Taranaki farmer Connor Porter was less lucky. He said he looked after calves for two weeks.

“We were told we would get $60 a head. Just before the calves arrived we were told we weren’t going to get paid for them. We were then offered $9 and I told them it’s just not viable it would be a waste of time, so it got to $20. We just took the hit and never touched wagyu again.”

Calf rearer Mark Stevenson said his company was paid for rearing about 200 calves, but the experience was not a good one.

“They were slow paying and we ran for the hills. We pulled out and in hindsight it’s good that we did.”

An abnormal business failure

Auckland liquidator Simon Dalton was handling the affairs of three of the companies, all linked to an abattoir near Gore that was processing Wagyu beef until Christmas.

The three were liquidated following a dispute between Tsujino and his fellow shareholder, Auckland investor Guanxiong Liu, that was “not capable of being resolved”. Other liquidated entities cited the same reason. Liu triggered the proceedings.

“He wasn’t happy with the direction,” Dalton said. “Wasn’t seeing funds flowing back. In terms of the way the assets were being managed.”

The abattoir, bought by a Tsujino company from longstanding Southland meat processor Blue Sky Pasture in 2021, had since been sold for $2m, Dalton said. He was confident of recouping more money that would allow the plant’s employees to be paid out in full.

Past that, there were few assets, Dalton said. Even within the three companies, the total debt was not yet clear. One was heavily indebted to another over unpaid rent for the meat plant, for example.

It was common for multiple entities to be liquidated when a business failed, Dalton said, but the extent of the Wagyu operation was abnormal. “Two or three is not horrendously difficult. Ten or so ‒ that is.”

Hunt’s firm Insolvency Matters was handling the rest of them. He agreed inter-company liquidations were more complicated, but said the bulk of the trading went through NZ Wagyu, which simplified things somewhat. Some related party transactions and accounts receivable matters were still outstanding, he said.

“[It’s] more complex [and] harder to trace everything but just [a] matter [of] working through it.”