St Laurence trustee warns debentureholders off low ball offer

Perpetual Trust, the trustee of defunct property financier St Laurence, is advising debentureholders not to sell into another low ball offer from Australian firm Stock and Share Trading Company Pty Ltd.

Matthew Lancaster, Head of Perpetual Corporate Trust, said St Laurence's receivers Barry Jordan and David Vance of Deloitte were well on the way to recovering between 15 cents and 22 cents in the dollar for debentureholders. Therefore he said investors should reject Stock and Share Trading's offer of 5 cents for their debentures.

Lancaster said the first payment to investors from Deloitte was due in January.

“While 15 – 22 cents is low compared to what investors originally paid out, it is a lot more than Stock and Share’s offer of 5 cents for each dollar of debenture stock," said Lancaster.

"It is opportunistic and they are preying on investors who may not realise that a much better payment is coming their way."

St Laurence debentureholders also got back 10c under St Laurence's moratorium.

Owing 9,000 investors NZ$245 million, an insolvent St Laurence was dumped into receivership by Perpetual Trust in April. The receivership came after St Laurence managing director Kevin Podmore proposed a debt for equity swap to try and stave off receivership. Lancaster warned if the proposal went ahead it would release Podmore from a NZ$20 million personal guarantee.

Stock and Share Trading has previously made low ball offers to St Laurence investors to buy their debentures for 20c and 8c in the dollar and been the subject of a Securities Commission warnings. Stock and Share Trading has also pitched low ball offers to Strategic Finance and Dorchester Finance.

Lancaster said Perpetual Trust strongly recommends any investor seeks independent advice from a reputable financial adviser on Stock and Share Trading's latest offer.