The communications<\/p>\n
In May 2023, Sport NZ questioned Moana Pasifika for forecasting a conversion of an initial loan paid in February into a grant, with the Crown entity telling the team that \u201chadn\u2019t been discussed\u201d and \u201cisn\u2019t something we would consider at this stage\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sport NZ said at the time its preference was to continue to run the entire drawdown as a loan, with interest repayment terms. It advised Moana Pasifika, \u201cassuming you will not be in a position to repay in full in Aug as originally hoped and to avoid incurring any penalties\u201d, to formally request the drawdown be converted into 10-year repayment terms as originally expected.<\/p>\n
Sport NZ also wrote to Moana Pasifika in May 2023 saying the club\u2019s projections looked \u201coverly optimistic\u201d with regard to revenue and sponsorships.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika wrote to Sport NZ saying converting it to a grant would provide a stronger financial position.<\/p>\n
Days after the initial discussion about the club labelling a loan as a grant, Sport NZ wrote to Moana Pasifika again.<\/p>\n
Sport NZ said a grant had not been discussed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is disappointing to have reference to discussions re: converting loan to a grant as there have been no such discussions I am aware of,\u201d the entity told the club. \u201cFor the purpose of progressing your drawdown request as quickly as possible I am for now going to ignore this aspect but will obviously be something we will need to pick up later,\u201d Sport NZ said.<\/p>\n
Sport NZ responded to Moana Pasifika forecasting a conversion of an initial loan into a grant.<\/p>\n
The Crown entity went further: \u201cJust to manage your expectations on this, any conversion will require Joint Ministers (Sport & Finance) to approve & possibly CABINET. I do not see the current Govt being interested in progressing this matter ahead of the elections but we will test this when next meeting the Minister,\u201d Moana Pasifika was told.<\/p>\n
In December 2023, then-club chief executive Pelenato Sakalia told Sport NZ it was in a difficult space financially.<\/p>\n
Former Moana Pasifika chief executive Pelenato Sakalia. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
\u201cOur projected revenue for FY24, taking into account the significant increase in revenue, still only leaves Moana Pasifika in a very tight financial position where we are unable to service the principal and interest repayment for FY24. As discussed your assistance in not requiring payment in this financial year (FY24) deferring the commencement of these payments,\u201d Sakalia wrote.<\/p>\n
Days later, Sport NZ said it was willing to delay the receipt of payment against the loans.<\/p>\n
The matter again came up in February 2024.<\/p>\n
Sakalia wrote to Sport NZ\u2019s group financial controller formally requesting \u201congoing support in deferring the principal and interest repayments until March 2025\u2033.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thank you for your kind consideration and we value our partnership and the support you have provided our organisation,\u201d Sakalia added.<\/p>\n
Sakalia followed up, days later, about finances: \u201cWe have been working to try and make sure that we can be realistic about the payment schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n
In March 2024, Sport NZ formally wrote to the club agreeing to defer principal repayments until March 2025, extending the repayment period for a further 22 months, and forgiving interest that would have accrued up until September 2024.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika wrote of being in financial difficulties in February 2025.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika again requested a one-year grace period on interest payments in February 2025. Sport NZ later agreed to the request.<\/p>\n
The letter from Moana Pasifika said the economic climate had placed the club under \u201csignificant financial pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika suggested it would eventually be able to pay the entirety back. \u201cWe are confident that this adjustment will provide us with the financial flexibility needed to navigate this season while ensuring that we remain on track to repay the principal in full,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur commitment to honouring the terms of the loan remains unwavering, and we are optimistic that this request will support our ongoing efforts to achieve financial stability,\u201d Moana Pasifika wrote.<\/p>\n
In March 2025, Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle wrote to then-Moana Pasifika chief executive Debbie Sorensen saying she hoped it provided \u201csome relief\u201d as the team progresses.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika thanked Sport NZ for its support.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is great to see the Moana Pasifika team being so competitive and your building fan base. I hope the balance of the season goes well. I appreciate the challenging financial times in which Moana Pasifika is operating,\u201d Castle said.<\/p>\n
Sorensen replied with a formal letter, thanking the Crown entity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of Moana Pasifika Limited, I would like to express our deepest gratitude to Sport NZ for its approval. We truly appreciate the trust and support you have extended to us, and we do not take it for granted,\u201d Sorensen wrote.<\/p>\n
Moana Pasifika said as it is now in liquidation, it would not be making any further comments.<\/p>\n
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament\u2019s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The financial agreement between Sport NZ and the club included an initial grant of up to $1m with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17248,1443,17623,4496,189243,1863,29845,36174,5095,1644,189244,78,12624,18060,41654,37107,111,139,245110,69,31445,8998,48037,766,6327,115152,2022,213,7187,6859,8222,6736,102,19135,1530,80],"class_list":["post-488773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-17248","tag-about","tag-appointed","tag-attempt","tag-azaria","tag-back","tag-claw","tag-difficult","tag-finances","tag-financial","tag-howell","tag-in","tag-liquidators","tag-loan","tag-moana","tag-multimilliondollar","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nowliquidated","tag-nz","tag-pasifika","tag-position","tag-repayment","tag-reports","tag-rugby","tag-shaky","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-told","tag-warned","tag-was","tag-with","tag-working","tag-years","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}