KordaMentha concludes receivership of Somers-Edgar's Orange

KordaMentha concludes receivership of Somers-Edgar's Orange Finance with $10M shortfall

By Jonathan Underhill

June 30 (BusinessDesk) - The receivers for Doug Somers-Edgar's Orange Finance have concluded their work with a shortfall of about $10 million in principal and interest owed to debenture holders of the failed company.

Orange froze repayments to some 2,500 investors owed $25.6 million in late 2008 before convincing debenture holders to agree to a moratorium on redemptions and interest payments until the end of July 2011. That deadline was later pushed out another year with trustee Covenant Trustee's approval.

Covenant appointed Brendon Gibson and Grant Graham of KordaMentha as receivers after Orange managed to repay 72 cents in the dollar during its 3 1/2-year moratorium on interest payments. By the end of the receivership, the repayment has climbed to 84 cents in the dollar.

"Given there are no further assets to realise there will be a shortfall to debenture holders," the receivers say. The final payment made was $45,400 paid to the trustee in relation to distributions owed to debenture holders who hadn't been tracked down or had failed to respond to notices from the receivers.

Orange had been incorporated in 2003 and funded property development and investment loans from funds raised from the public via the issue of debentures. Orange had no employees or infrastructure and was operated by Matrix Funding Group, which changed its name to Waiwera Canyon in June 2014 and is still owned by Somers-Edgar and his wife Anne.

Some investors complained they had been encouraged to put their money into Orange by advisory firm Money Managers, a Somers-Edgar vehicle that has since been struck off the register of companies.

Somers-Edgar is associated with two other companies that are at risk of being struck off - Ginsing Growers and EFT Management, which is overdue filing its annual return. Another, CTT Finance Holdings, is in receivership, while Heritage Trust is in liquidation.

A Companies Office search on the name Somers-Edgar as a director or shareholder brings up pages of companies where he has ceased involvement but also 12 or more that are apparently still active, including a stake in IT firm Flow Software, Onesure Life & Health, Workplace Superannuation, Paramount Management, Munford & Sons, Oracle Insurance and Club Finance.

(BusinessDesk)

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