NZF meeting for Mike Pero Mortgages sale on hold

Thursday 27th December 2012

NZF Group, the financial services firm at odds with receivers of its failed finance unit, has delayed a shareholder vote on whether to exit its stake in Mike Pero Mortgages after the buyer filed High Court papers to limit information that can be shared with investors.

Australia's Liberty Financial, which owns the other half of MPMH, has applied to "restrain information that NZF Group may provide to its shareholders in considering the sale and to compel the directors of NZF Group to make a positive recommendation to approve the sale," the firm said in a statement.

The Auckland-based firm needs shareholder approval to sign off on the sale of its 50 percent stake in MPMH, which was valued at $2.76 million by Simmons Corporate Finance, as it's more than eight times greater than NZF's $330,000 market capitalisation. NZF shares last traded at three-tenths of a cent, and have plunged 90 percent this year.

Last month, NZF said it valued the stake at $7.51 million and that its board was surprised by the discrepancy between the valuations.

NZF's directors put the discrepancy down to different valuation methodologies being used, the valuers not placing much weight on a recovery in the property market, and the strained relationship between NZF and Liberty which meant Simmons didn't have access to MPMH board approved information including projections.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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