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Canterbury Mortgage Trust to wind up fund; Marac’s asset-backed paper first to be accepted from RBNZ; Meridian’s notes rated; Strategic cancels dividend payments; BNZ has first wholesale guaranteed bond.

Tuesday, February 24th 2009, 5:00AM

Canterbury Mortgage Trust has decided to wind up its fund, which is currently frozen, with the aim of returning $251 million owed to 4,500 investors.

It is expecting to make a first payment of 40c in the dollar to investors in April, but full repayment may take three years.

The trust was planning a meeting of investors to decide its future, but has now decided to wind up the fund. It can do this without consulting investors.

It first froze its funds in July last year and that point thought the closure would be temporary.

Marac’s asset-backed paper first to be accepted from RBNZ
MARAC Finance has gained approval for its commercial paper to be used as security under the central bank’s domestic market operations.

The Pyne Gould Corp-owned company’s CPs, rated A-1+ are the first asset-backed securities to be approved under the facility, giving institutional investors more liquidity.

“MARAC is run in a very conservative manner, and diversification of both our funding and lending businesses is a key feature of this strategy,” the company said in a statement.

Meridian’s notes rated
Standard & Poor’s has assigned its BBB+/A-2 ratings to Meridian Energy’s Renewable Energy Notes (Res) program.

The BBB+ long-term rating was assigned to the RENs with 18-month maturities, while the A-2 short-term rating was assigned to the RENs with none and 12-month maturities.

Holders of the RENs benefit from a guarantee from subsidiaries of the issuer that will encompass a minimum of 80% of group tangible assets; noteholders also receive the benefit of the interest and gearing covenants provided to investors in other Meridian issues.

Meridian’s S&P rating is BBB+/Stable/A-2.

Strategic cancels dividend payments
Strategic Finance has cancelled dividend payments for is Perpetual Preference Shares (PPS) indefinitely.

BNZ has first wholesale guaranteed bond
Bank of New Zealand has priced the first domestic bank bond issue guaranteed by the government under the Wholesale Funding Guarantee Facility.

The five-year bonds were issued at a margin of 80 basis points over the five year swap mid-rate, with an issue yield of 4.775%, payable semi-annually. The bonds have a maturity date of 20 February 2014.

The bonds were placed with institutional investors.

The issue follows the lowering of the guarantee fee by the government from 140 basis points to 90 points.

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