Allied Farmers sells Taranaki real estate unit worth 26 percent of group's value

Tuesday 23rd April 2013

Allied Farmers, which kept itself alive last month through a fire sale of toxic loans, has sold its Taranaki real estate unit for $472,500, more than a quarter of the group's value by market capitalisation.

The Hawera-based firm sold its Allied Farmers First National business to the unit's manager's Shawn Gibbon and Owen Mills as part of its asset sale and debt reduction process for its rural business, the company said in a statement. The sale price was about 26 percent of Allied's $1.82 million market cap. Issuers need to get a waiver from the NZX or shareholder approval to sell assets exceeding 50 percent of their average market cap.

The rural business had assets worth $7.72 million and liabilities of $9.44 million as at Dec. 31, according to Allied's first-half report.

Allied survived two calls on debt from an unnamed creditor and the Inland Revenue Department last month after it sold various loan assets with no book value for $100,000 upfront and potential for a further $500,000.

The company is trying to rebuild itself after its disastrous acquisition of financial assets from Hanover and United Finance for $394 million in 2009. It has ring-fenced what's left of the assets in its Allied Farmers Investments unit, which had assets of $25.7 million, according to its first-half accounts.

The shares were unchanged at 2 cents yesterday, and have plunged by a third this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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