NZF meeting for Mike Pero Mortgages sale on hold as buyer seeks to limit information
Dec. 27 (BusinessDesk) - 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.
A High Court hearing is scheduled for February.
(BusinessDesk)