Crown Asset Management acquires SCF assets

MEDIA STATEMENT

Crown Asset Management acquires SCF assets

Crown Asset Management Limited has acquired South Canterbury Finance’s non-cash assets from the company’s Receivers. The non-cash assets acquired by the Crown include:

• The portfolio of remaining loans in the Bad Bank loan book
• Sundry equity investments
• Remaining property investments

No cash will be paid to complete the acquisition, with settlement by way of the Crown releasing some of the debt that SCF owes after the Crown paid depositors $1.58 billion under the terms of the now-expired Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme.

The Government last year announced that it would set up CAML to manage these assets. Now that it has acquired assets from SCF’s Receivers, negotiations will commence with Receivers of other finance companies that were in the Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme to acquire those assets.

CAML Chairman Gary Traveller said the company would use premises in Christchurch that were previously occupied by SCF and would continue to use staff who had been working for the Receivers on loan recoveries. CAML’s day-to-day operations would be run by General Manager Sharon Burleigh.

Mr Traveller said CAML would be self funding, with operating costs covered by the revenue it generates from realisation of assets and from repayments of loans that it has acquired. As with other Crown companies, CAML operates at arm’s length from shareholding Ministers to ensure it has a commercial focus.

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