News Round Up

General Finance offers debenture stock, Contributory mortgage broker breaks undertaking, Macquarie says new notes should be AAA rated, PM Capital to close fund and more.

Monday, November 29th 2004, 12:45AM

General Finance is the latest player to enter the investment markets, having recently launched a prospectus to raise $20 million in retail funds secured by first ranking debenture stock.

General Finance is run by James Lockie and William Cairns, the two people behind Cairns Lockie and eMortgage.

They say the move will allow them to extend their range of lending products. One area is the increasing demand for bridging finance.

To see how their rates compare go to our Deposit Rates page www.depositrates.co.nz

Broker breaks rules - but not penalised
Christchurch-based contributory mortgage company Prudential Mortgage has breached an enforceable undertaking it gave the Securities Commission earlier this year, but isn’t being punished.

The enforceable undertaking came about because of some advertisements Prudential ran. It subsequently agreed to have all future advertising for contributory mortgages prepared or reviewed by appropriate professional advisers.

However, recent advertising of another contributory mortgage did not comply with securities law disclosure requirements. In this case Prudential has given further information to contributors and offered to refund contributors’ money.

Prudential has also admitted that it has been breaching the enforceable undertaking offered to the commission in March 2004 by not having its advertising prepared or reviewed by professional advisers.

Prudential said it mistakenly believed that it was not yet required to comply with the undertaking. However all enforceable undertakings accepted by the Commission are immediately in force.

"When contributory mortgage brokers are raising funds from the public, the Commission expects high standards of compliance with all securities law disclosure requirements," Commission chairman Jane Diplock said.

Notes expect AAA rating
Macquarie says it expects its new Generator Income Notes to have an AAA Standard and Poors rating. This rating is just on the repayment of principal at maturity.

The S&P rating is expected to be confirmed on the issue date. “The offer will not proceed if either Generator Income Notes or the Aria Notes fail to receive a rating from S&P of AAA, or if market conditions make the offer uneconomic,” Macquarie says.

ING Property Trust posts $11 mill profit
ING Property Trust has posted an $11.08 million profit for the September half year, up from $1.8 million for the same period last year. For more details go to www.sharechat.co.nz

PM Capital closes fund
PM Capital is to close its Australian Opportunities Fund to new investments from December 31. Existing unitholders may continue to reinvest their income distributions.

The Australian Opportunities Fund is a concentrated long/short Australian equity fund. PM Capital has always stated a targeted closure of the fund at A$500 million to allow the fund to remain managed with the same investment approach.

"By closing the fund we are simply ensuring that it will not face any unnecessary hurdles when investing its capital."

Debt repayment high priority
Kiwis into repaying debt The most common destination for New Zealanders' spare cash is repaying debt, according to a global study from research company ACNielson.

It says repaying debt is the most likely way New Zealanders spend their spare cash.

One in three said they were likely to put spare cash into a savings/deposit account. Globally, New Zealanders ranked in the top five countries (together with Malaysia, Philippines, Australia and the UK) likely to spend their spare dollars on debt, supporting reports of increasing debt across the country.

The second most likely way New Zealanders spend their spare cash is out-of-home entertainment, indicating they are still looking to enjoy life and are not curbing their discretionary spending.

There is a lack of interest in New Zealand to make superannuation payments although the willingness to contribute to superannuation or pension schemes is not out of line with other countries across Asia Pacific.

« Nats to back Cullen's fund

Sovereign takes regulation bull by the horns »

Special Offers