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Wellington Capital PIF/Octaviar (MFS) PIF

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http://www.smh.com.au/business/mfs-board-not-told-about-problems-court-hears-20100429-twjv.html
Extracted from link above::
MFS board not told about problems, court hears KATE LAHEY
April 30, 2010

BEFORE the board of MFS Investment Management met in January 2008, its chief executive, Guy Hutchings, was troubled that $147 million had mysteriously vanished from the company's Premium Income Fund.

It also appeared a $200 million loan from the Royal Bank of Scotland had been misused and there was doubt the fund could meet its redemptions, the NSW Supreme Court heard yesterday.

But instead of telling the board any of this, Mr Hutchings and his colleagues told directors the company ''has met all its obligations as a responsible entity during the period''.
 
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...d-property-group/story-e6frg8zx-1225859649354

Extracted from link above. Emphasis added.
Octaviar deals queried: property group
April 29, 2010

"Former company secretary Kim Kercher told the court she discovered there may have been some issues with the related-party deals, which all took place in late November 2007, during a conversation with former chief executive Guy Hutchings.

"I can't recall verbatim, but it was to do with, concerning, loans that he wasn't sure where they ended up," Ms Kercher told the court. "From that discussion I thought it could have been a related-party matter."

...

The court took a five-minute break during the afternoon session after Ms Kercher started crying while she recalled discussions with senior MFS executives about the related-party transactions. She said she raised her concerns about whether the company had followed proper procedures in certain transactions with former chief operating officer David Kennedy and former deputy chief executive Craig White. "I was primarily concerned that transactions had occurred that did not have related-party approval," she said. "I was seeking documentation to find out if that was correct or not."

Ms Kercher said Mr White had assured her the transactions were "all fine and above board"."

And that's OK then is it KK? What's the point of having processes if select deals can just bypass it? The process just become a decoy and then administrators of that process are enablers. Is that what they teach at Bond Uni?

Looks like the Bully Lawyers are going to put Kercher on the hook for this. That's forgivable but did you sit on this testimony for 2 years Kercher? While another of the MFS/OCV lawyers continued with the serfdom of our capital?
 
Hmmm. But I can't see a $400 fine being much of a deterent. Very much the path of least resistance. The lesser of two evils. Especially when you're covereing your back over $100M+.

More ASIC, look at me, fluff. Insipid laws and enforcement. Unless of course there's more of a penalty than just the fine. Like e.g. criminal conviction or a restriction on future employment. Maybe the fine for KK and Co would be proportionally higher.
 
"On the first day of a liquidator's examination into MFS, later known as Octaviar, which collapsed in 2008 owing more than $2 billion, David John Kennedy described uncontrolled spending by MFS executives, ''Mickey Mouse'' approval processes and a hostile culture in which the company's chairman, Andrew Peacock, screamed at staff.

Mr Kennedy told the NSW Supreme Court he started working for MFS in May 2007 as chief operating officer - a role no one ever lasted long in at MFS.

Advertisement: Story continues belowOn February 25, 2008, he said he tried to raise his concerns about the company. ''I sent an email to the then chief executive, Craig White, about some concerns I had about the way some of the directors were doing their job, doing their duties,'' Mr Kennedy said. ''I was considering whether I should be bringing any action against them.''

The next morning, ''Craig called me and told me that I should go home'', he said. Several weeks later he left the job.

Mr Kennedy said before he was suspended he had approved an internal investigation into a transaction worth $130 million that another colleague had raised doubts about. That colleague also left before the audit was completed.
Above only in part see full story: http://www.smh.com.au/business/cour...executives-hostile-culture-20100412-s46a.html

Ex Staff are starting to fess up - hope it continues!
 
Special sales of 2009
Author: with ALEX ARNOLD
Date: 09/01/2010

6. Fire sale in paradise

A fire sale of apartments within the stalled Ocean View City Beach project in Harbour St in October sparked a buyer frenzy.

In just four days more than $28 million worth of property was snapped up with 47 of the 67 discounted apartments selling, including the building's five penthouse apartments which were priced from $981,000.

The top price achieved was $1.05 million. A week later all but a handful of apartments had been sold.

The units are being sold by a number of agents as "a 14-day pre-completion clearance" on the basis of a "buy now and settle in March 2010" when the project is expected to be completed.

A number of agents were appointed to sell the units including Simon Kersten of Colliers International and Michael Sullivan from CB Richard Ellis.

Mr Kersten described the response as "staggering" but said the units were sold at well below market value.

Mr Sullivan said two-bedroom units that had previously sold off the plan for above $700,000 before developer Jempac's collapse were sold in the low $500,000s.

In November the project changed hands with Premium Income Fund, the financial backers of the project, to receive $38 million from the new owner Harbour Street Developments.

Harbour Street Developments is controlled by Queensland developer George Callianiotis, with the backing of Rockhampton retailer Solly Stanton.


With an investor update pending I assume it will contain our 3cent return of capital payment details etc??


Seamisty
 
Structure too complicated for CFO KATE LAHEY
May 1, 2010

THE former chief financial officer of the failed MFS investment group looked yesterday at a diagram of the companies he helped establish before they collapsed, then let out a long, slow whistle.

David Anderson was handed the A3 chart in the witness box of the NSW Supreme Court, and told by Adam Bell, SC, representing liquidators from Bentleys Corporate Recovery, to study it.

''I'm not sure the study's going to be a help,'' Mr Anderson said.

Article continues::http://www.smh.com.au/business/structure-too-complicated-for-cfo-20100430-tz9t.html

Examinations by liquidators are due to resume May 10.


Seamisty
 
http://www.smh.com.au/business/telonaut-pill-has-saved-year-already-20100502-u1lk.html

".... COSTS CLAIM
The public examination of the multibillion-dollar collapse of MFS Limited hit a momentary roadblock in Sydney on Friday on the thorny issue of costs.
Before making his debut in the witness box in the NSW Supreme Court to be examined by the MFS liquidator, the former chief financial officer David Anderson told the registrar he wanted to make an application.
Anderson is seeking costs for his appearances, expected to run for several days. He has already claimed $99.64 for taxis on the first day alone.
In the lead-up to Friday's appearance, Anderson had been corresponding with the liquidator Bentleys Corporate Recovery for a month on the issue of costs, the court was told.
The senior deputy registrar, Andrew Musgrave, said it was not an unreasonable request.
Lawyers for the liquidator said Anderson should hold on to his receipts so they can sort his costs after they have finished grilling him.
It is unclear if the examination will scrutinise the $940,000 in consultancy fees Anderson's private firm, Business Puzzle Solutions, was paid by the initial administrator and liquidator of MFS, Deloittes, in less than a year....."

I am puzzling this one...
 
Trio Capital class action on cards
Directors, trustees and RE targeted

http://www.investordaily.com.au/9123.htm

Seagrim also expressed frustration with the Minister for Financial Services Chris Bowen, ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).

"He [Bowen] is not really in touch ... they all say they're working towards a common goal and they're not. There's all this red tape that's preventing them from proceeding," he said.

"This whole debacle has nothing to do with the elusive money trail. It has everything to do with ASIC and their inadequate, irresponsible laws that do not provide the investors with the ability to access their money."




Sound familiar? Seamisty
 
New regulation to reverse class action ruling





“Following consultation with a range of key stakeholders, such as legal practitioners, litigation funders, consumer representatives, regulators and other departments, we have decided that imposing this heavy compliance burden on class actions would be unjustified,” Bowen said.

The Federal Government will draft regulations clarifying that funded class actions are not managed investment schemes, which is due to be released before the expiry of ASIC’s temporary exemption.

The Government felt the area was already well regulated and that any further regulation would create further burden that was not justified.


http://www.moneymanagement.com.au/article/New-regulation-to-reverse-class-action-ruling/516483.aspx

Full article in above link. Good sense finally prevails!! Seamisty
 
A win for the good guys for a change! Thanks for the info, Seamisty.

Cookie
 
Hi ALL, I am needing assistance in locating an email or ph no contact for::

Kourosh Jafari (FAARS PTY LTD) :::: who was possibly the developer of one of the PIF Melbourne properties sold by WC.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VSC/2009/255.html


I am also trying to contact::

Ray Schofield (possibly NZ)and Ron Lane, the former owners of Kooralbyn Hotel resort.


Any help will be greatly appreciated.


Thanks, Seamisty
 
Remember this company? The one who paid the OZ MFS an undisclosed sum for the rights to the name MFS and our MFS became Octaviar?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1M0LqbHdOic&refer=canada-redirectoldpage

MFS to Pay $50 Million to Settle SEC Sales Allegation (Update3)

By Otis Bilodeau

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- MFS Investment Management, which last month agreed to $351 million of sanctions for allowing improper mutual fund trading, will pay $50 million to settle regulators' allegations that it made hidden payments to brokers who promoted its funds.

MFS, based in Boston, paid the brokers out of fund assets, hurting investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement. The enforcement action is the first against a fund company for participating in marketing programs by brokerage firms such as Morgan Stanley that regulators have said were marred by conflicts of interest.


:holysheep: I hope their regulators are not as pathetic as ours!! Does any one have connections or contacts to reporters/journos that want some interesting info regarding the PIF? Please contact me via email or private message if you do. Thanks, Seamisty
 
Also any Aussie PIF investor with NZ contacts please? Thanks, Seamisty
 
Gold.

And what has the venerbale rag Australian Financial Review reported on these revelations .... zip?

http://complispace.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/australian-corporate-governance-wrap-april-2010/

"Governance Free Zones Exposed in Corporate Autopsies

We’ll leave the James Hardie appeal off to one side because the finger pointing blame game, “it wasn’t my fault” line got a bit boring after day one http://ow.ly/1AsWB.

Even the admission by ABC Learning’s Chairman, David Ryan, that he had not read a Goldman Sachs report, presented to ABC’s board in April 2008, that forecasted it would run out of cash by June 30, 2008, doesn’t get the prize.

The prize for “governance free zone of the month” has to go to the former MFS/Octaviar management team. CFO, and former KPMG partner, David Anderson admitted that he didn’t understand the very structure he set up http://ht.ly/1FvMH. The Company Secretary and “Chief Governance Officer” Kim Kercher, told a court she could not recall meetings she attended and did not fully understand the functions of companies within the group http://ht.ly/1DTQk …Go team!

These guys would all do well to read the “20 Steps to Better Corporate Governance” research report released by Chartered Secretaries Australia http://ht.ly/1DA21 on 22 April 2010."
 
One odd-ball effect of searching for "Wellington Capital" via Google (some time ago) was to be directed to "the capital of NZ." Now you'd think that anybody with imagination would have thought of this quirky outcome before baptism. Anyway, the Duke of Wellington must be spinning in his grave.
 
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