The almost 10,000 long-suffering debenture holders in crashed OPI Pacific Finance are set to be drizzled a little more of their cash back, but will still be down by nearly 75c in the NZ$1.
Receiver Colin McCloy of PwC wrote to investors today saying that another 1.58c in the dollar would be repaid, bringing the total amount repaid to 25.44c in the dollar.
He said that the proceeds allowing the new payment had come from recent successful actions taken by the receivers.
"In December 2012 we successfully came to a settlement with insurers that had provided loan mortgage insurance to [OPI Pacific] and its related entity OPI Pacific Finance Investments Pty. We have also been successful in obtaining settlements with a number of loan guarantors, a valuer, and with the trustee administering the personal insolvency agreement of one of [OPI Pacific's] former directors," McCloy said.
He did not quantify the amounts of money realised.
OPI Pacific was part of the high-flying, Gold Coast-based, MFS group run by New Zealand-born, polo playing, entrepreneur Michael King. MFS crashed spectacularly in early 2008 leaving OPI Pacific without support or the means to pay back its NZ$198.4 million of secured debenture holders, or the NZ$57.5 million worth of unsecured noteholders.
First, OPI Pacific entered a moratorium agreement in May 2008, which did recover about 22.2c in the dollar for investors. And then in September 2009 it was tipped into receivership. Liquidation followed in November 2011.
In their last six-monthly report the receivers indicated they had lodged a claim for over NZ$400m against King following his entering into a personal insolvency agreement with creditors.
"We do not expect to recover substantial funds from Michael King's personal insolvency arrangement as there are a number of other creditors who will be entitled to a distribution and the total funds available for distribution are relatively minor in relation to the amount claimed," receivers said.
OPI Pacific still has an unsecured claim against MFS (which is now known as Octaviar) of A$418 million in relation to a "put option" agreement that the New Zealand company had entered into as a means of being supported by Octaviar. In the last six-monthly report the receivers said they were still discussing the claim with Octaviar's liquidators.
Summarised detail of all the finance companies caught up in the industry's meltdown can be found in our Deep Freeze list here »
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