mmg.com.au

A important meeting for Banksia Securities investors is to be held in Kyabram this Sunday afternoon.

The urgency of the meeting is due to information published last week which indicated final bids for the sale of about 560 of Banksia Securities good performing loans, worth about $270million, are due next Wednesday, March 27.

Sunday’s meeting will be run by the four local identities, Peter Hann, Don McKenzie, Doug Crow and Peter Nelson.

The four men previously chaired a public meeting in Kyabram on January 14, which sought to form a support group to represent investors in working to maximise the return of their capital.

The group has since met with various parties, including a meeting last Thursday with representatives of The Trust Company, the organisation which appointed the receiver.

Since that meeting two of the group, Mr McKenzie and Mr Crow, have been invited to join the receiver’s debenture holder committee, which will meet in Melbourne on March 27 for the first time.

There are concerns the loans involved may be sold for about $70million less than their expected value.

Bidders for the loan book are believed to include major financial institutions Bendigo Bank, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Macquarie Group.

‘‘We believe these loans are mainly due to complete in the next three to four years, or less, and they currently bring in about $25million in interest per year,’’ Mr Hann said.

‘‘If the receiver is looking to discount these good performing loans by 25 per cent, that worries the hell out of us regarding the rest of the portfolio.

‘‘These loans are basically providing the nucleus that is currently providing the income to manage the rest of the portfolio, and once these loans are gone there is no financial platform to build from.’’

On February 7, the receiver wrote to debenture holders quoting a projected return of between 50¢ and 65¢ in the dollar for Banksia Securities investors.

‘‘Our projections suggest at a return rate of 65¢ in the dollar they would still be selling the good loans for about 60 per cent of their full value, and the impaired loans for about 30 per cent,’’ Mr Hann said.

‘‘We believe the good loans should be worth their full value and the overall return should be somewhere between 80¢ to 90¢ in the dollar.’’

Group members also met representatives from The Trust Company, who appointed the receiver, last week to express their concerns.

Sunday’s investors meeting will be held at Kyabram Plaza Theatre starting at 4pm and all Banksia Securities investors are encouraged to attend.