Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Strategic Finance goes into receivership

Updated at 7:04 am on 15 March 2010

Finance company Strategic Finance has been placed in receivership.

Strategic owes $417 million to about 13,000 investors, and missed its first payment under its revised repayment plan in January, triggering a review of its future by its trustee, Perpetual Trust.

Perpetual Trust says Strategic Finance received a number of offers for parts or all of its assets, but the trustee decided the best option for investors was to place the troubled finance firm in receivership.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed as the receiver.

Strategic Finance lost $99.8 million in the six months to the end of December, as a falling property market pushed up bad loans.

Investors had been told they would get between 85 cents and 93 cents in every dollar invested by Strategic Finance, but PricewaterhouseCoopers partner John Fisk says investors will probably get less than that. The other receiver is Colin McCloy.

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