Wellington Capital PIF/Octaviar (MFS) PIF

Did the PIF ever get anything back from Raptis??

Hilton Surfers Paradise hotel up for sale
| April 21st, 2011
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2011/04/21/309735_gold-coast-business.html
WHILE developer Jim Raptis is being pursued for a $3.8 million unpaid loan, the trophy project he was forced to relinquish two years ago is on the market for more than $75 million.

Brookfield Multiplex is now selling the hotel component of the Hilton Surfers Paradise, which comprises the 169 suites on the first 15 floors of the Orchid Tower due for completion in August.

The sale also includes the management rights to the $700 million project.

Market sources say there has been considerable interest in the hotel component of the property around $60 million, but Brookfield Multiplex is confident it can achieve a price above $75 million.

The sale, through an expressions of interest campaign, comes as Gold Coast funds manager Equititrust steps up its recovery action against borrowers including Mr Raptis.

Equititrust is seeking to recover a $3.8 million debt held against a Mudgeeraba development site owned by a Raptis company and guaranteed by Mr Raptis personally.

Equititrust chief executive David Kennedy said yesterday that Mr Raptis had not adhered to a refinance proposal.

''We ran out of patience,'' he said. ''We're going after everything and anybody that owes us money.''

But Mr Raptis yesterday said the amount owed was in dispute and he would be defending his position. He was confident of an amicable settlement.

An article on Equititrust::http://www.smh.com.au/business/investors-warned-of-20-losses-20110420-1dowv.html

THE frozen mortgage fund Equititrust has told furious investors in its income fund that they could lose up to 20 per cent of their investment because the value of property development sites has plunged.

The chief executive, David Kennedy, said he had told the group of mostly elderly investors that the ''worst case scenario'' for the $260 million fund was that it may only pay out 80 ¢ in the dollar when it is ''thawed'' later this year.

He offered cold comfort, telling BusinessDay that they would be better off than the tens of thousands of investors in the Gold Coast financial group MFS who received considerably less after it collapsed. Mr Kennedy is the former chief operating officer of MFS.
He said the investor equity in the fund had shrunk because of $35 million in newly discovered impairments on two of the fund's largest loans made to developers at the market peak.

The estimated $35 million black hole is spread between a loan secured by a resort development in South Australia and a residential development site west of Brisbane whose value appears to have been massively inflated. There could also be $27 million of impairments on other smaller loans to developers, he said.

Mr Kennedy addressed a two-hour meeting on the Gold Coast yesterday to explain to about 450 of the fund's 1600 investors why the company had decided to postpone distributions on April 4. The fund consists of $203 million in investor equity, $27 million in Equititrust equity and $25 million in bank debt.

He was concerned that a $40 million ''buffer'' of the fund's money would not cover the latest impairments, given that the fund had already suffered an impairment loss of $13 million in the six months to December.

Mr Kennedy said the fund had a $41 million loan secured by a resort development in South Australia, which was worth as little as $35 million, and a $48 million loan secured by a residential development worth just $25 million.

Mr Kennedy said that distributions would not resume until at least August

The latest on CP First Mortgage Fund managed by Balmain Trilogy:

CityPac postpones $35m payout
Colin Kruger
April 23, 2011
http://www.smh.com.au/business/citypac-postpones-35m-payout-20110422-1dram.html

THE continuing decline of Queensland's property market is extracting a toll on struggling property mortgage funds.

Managers of the City Pacific-founded First Mortgage Fund announced they will have to postpone most of an expected $35 million payout to investors due to worsening conditions.

''As previously stated, the property market in Queensland has continued to retract as demand for vacant land and completed residential dwellings has declined,'' said Balmain Trilogy, which has taken over as the manager of what is now known as the Pacific First Mortgage Fund.

''Depressed property values, combined with the effects of the flooding in Queensland, have caused the projected sales of assets to fall below our forecasts,'' it said in a statement.

Balmain Trilogy wrestled control of the fund - which has collapsed in value from $1 billion at its peak to little more than $400 million - from City Pacific, which is in liquidation.

The announcement, late on Thursday, followed on from another Gold Coast mortgage fund operator, Equititrust, finally admitting this week that investors in its flagship fund will face a significant loss on their investment. Just a week before, Equititrust cut income distributions to these same investors, whose investment has been frozen since 2008.

Balmain Trilogy said it still intended to return 1 ¢ per unit to PFMF investors, roughly $9 million, by the end of this month, with the remaining 3 ¢ return expected to be made in June.

It said the latter payment may be delayed further if market conditions continued to deteriorate.

''As we work to have properties realised in an orderly fashion, we remain conscious of the continued decline in the market and ask unitholders to understand that our commitment is to provide the optimal return of funds without resorting to fire sales,'' it said.

Balmain Trilogy also announced that it had been given leave by the securities regulator to conduct a public examination into the affairs of City Pacific before its collapse. The examinations are expected to be conducted in NSW Supreme Court in July.

''Subsequent to those examinations, legal advice will be sought to determine the best course of action to recover funds on behalf of Pacific First Mortgage Fund unitholders,'' it said.

Balmain Trilogy is expected to conduct civil action to recover more than $100 million for the fund's investors.

City Pacific executives are expected to be examined in court over their involvement in the fund's disastrous performance, together with executives from the fund's financier, the Commonwealth Bank, and the accounting giant KPMG, which acted as City Pacific's auditor.

Balmain Trilogy offered investors a scathing assessment of City Pacific's actions as the original manager of the fund, saying ''it was never managed for the benefit of investors but rather as the preferred lender to City Pacific itself and its various joint ventures''.

This all sounds very familiar.

This is a very informative article for all investors in mortgage funds....

http://www.smh.com.au/business/frozen-funds-stranded-in-no-mans-land-20110422-1drcj.html

Enter GEM G8 into the Aussie Stocks search engine to reach the G8 forum. A couple of interesting posts to read.

Long awaited delivery of the final pleaded version of the CA case is due on 27th April;
"come what may" in Court's own words.
Hope we will soon be in the loop without the constraints of "confidential and privileged".
May Easter Bunny truly deliver.
Greetings to all,

An interesting piece in SMH CBD section on the imminent departure of ASIC Chairman, Tony D'Aloisio

GIFT TIME

Meanwhile, there were rumours that a collection plate being passed around the ASIC offices for Mr D's leaving present was suffering from a lack of contributions.

The only parting gift for him, according to some of the rumours, was from his key lieutenant Belinda Gibson, who delivered the redundancies of 54 deterrence heads. It is rumoured other staff at ASIC might be informed on May 9 whether they too might be shown the door, just before Mr D completes his four-year mission at the regulator.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/plane-jane-heads-for-the-exit-aisle-20110425-1dtzh.html#ixzz1Ka17zT7O

marcom said:

An interesting piece in SMH CBD section on the imminent departure of ASIC Chairman, Tony D'Aloisio

GIFT TIME

Meanwhile, there were rumours that a collection plate being passed around the ASIC offices for Mr D's leaving present was suffering from a lack of contributions.

The only parting gift for him, according to some of the rumours, was from his key lieutenant Belinda Gibson, who delivered the redundancies of 54 deterrence heads. It is rumoured other staff at ASIC might be informed on May 9 whether they too might be shown the door, just before Mr D completes his four-year mission at the regulator.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/plane-jane-heads-for-the-exit-aisle-20110425-1dtzh.html#ixzz1Ka17zT7O

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I understand the Successor pool is quite limited. Ms Gibson is there along with an American expatriate as prospects. Hm, at $586kpa plus it should be attractive to local talents?

Regards

simgrund said:

Long awaited delivery of the final pleaded version of the CA case is due on 27th April;
"come what may" in Court's own words.
Hope we will soon be in the loop without the constraints of "confidential and privileged".
May Easter Bunny truly deliver.
Greetings to all,

Click to expand...

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter break. I notice a flurry of recent activity in relation to the Class Action::

https://www.comcourts.gov.au/file/Federal/P/NSD324/2009/actions
Documents Filed
Date Filed Document Title Filed By
27-Apr-2011 Affidavit Janet Hodges
27-Apr-2011 Notice of Motion Janet Hodges
27-Apr-2011 Notice of Motion Guy Hutchings
27-Apr-2011 Affidavit Andrea Waters
27-Apr-2011 Notice of Motion John Whateley
21-Apr-2011 Notice of Motion Michael Hiscock
21-Apr-2011 Notice of Motion Andrea Waters
20-Apr-2011 Affidavit Michael Christodolou King
20-Apr-2011 Notice of Motion Michael Christodolou King
19-Apr-2011 Notice of Motion Craig White

Heres hoping we will be 'moving forward' from now on!! Seamisty

Holiday Inn name may go with sale | April 29th, 2011 http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2011/04/29/311365_gold-coast-business.html

RECEIVERS have finally taken Raptis Group's Holiday Inn to the market, but it remained unclear last night if the hotel brand would disappear from the Coast once a buyer was found.

A national advertising campaign is seeking a buyer for the management and letting rights to the five-star hotel, including about 6000sq m of property comprising the lobby, function rooms and commercial space.

But it also has been revealed a potential buyer could negotiate "full naming and badging rights" for the property, which implies that the Holiday Inn name could be removed from the property.

Neither the Holiday Inn Surfers Paradise nor its parent company, InterContinental Hotels Group, returned calls by the Bulletin yesterday.

The hotel's sale campaign has been ordered by receivers Justin Walsh and Shaun McKinnon, of Ernst & Young, who have been in charge of the Holiday Inn since early 2009.

The receivers could not be contacted for comment yesterday, but marketing agent Jake Clarke, of MR Sales, confirmed interest in the property had been strong.

The interest had come from hotel operators, management rights operators and investors, he said.

The property is owned by Raptis Group subsidiaries Colryan Pty Ltd and Seasilver Hotels Pty Ltd. Colryan owns the management rights to the hotel, while Seasilver Hotels owns the real estate, including any unsold strata-title hotel apartments within the property.

While Holiday Inn has naming rights to the hotel, Colryan owns the management rights.

"We're selling it on a walk-in, walk-out basis," Mr Clarke said.

The Coast-based management rights specialist previously sold the management rights to Chevron Renaissance for another distressed Raptis entity in 2009, and he is negotiating the sale of the Q1 rights for Mantra Group.

The hotel was refurbished by Raptis Group in 2006.

When receivers were appointed in 2009, the debts held against the 404-room hotel were understood to be more than $72 million.

The lenders included Wellington Capital's Premium Income Fund, LM Investments, Securecorp, Shakespeare Haney Securities and Resimac.
The receivers continue to seek buyers for the hotel suites around $250,000, but it is unclear how many remain in the receivers' hands.

This is a link to a Federal Court glossary of legal terms. It could come in handy in the future.

http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/litigants/general/legalterms.html

Hi when will our class action start,and for how long.ta

targav 8 said:

Hi when will our class action start,and for how long.ta

Click to expand...

targav 8 I understand CA members will receive an update within the next few days. Seamisty

On Tuesday 10th May at 10:30am, Justice Perram will issue directions from the bench.

Good luck to us all.

Michael

This afternoon's SMF report on the Centro matter being held in the Federal Court, Melbourne.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/i-did-not-look-at-all-papers-centro-man-20110502-1e562.html

Hi all, I have just received my Class Action update. Please be reminded that the content is confidential thanks, Seamisty

It appears David Kennedy (former CEO of MFS/Octaviar) is in the headlines again. Also the name Ian Lazar jolted my memory. Jim Byrnes at some stage renamed his company, Australian Litigation Funders Pty Ltd to that of ''Lazar Bummer Finance Pty Ltd'' after Ian Lazar came out on top in a court case in 2009 with they 'came head-to-head over the winding up of Big Jim's litigation funding company.' Hmnn, interesting all these connections. Seamisty

http://www.smh.com.au/business/wind...f-woes-facing-equititrust-20110503-1e6na.html

Wind up application adds to catalogue of woes facing Equititrust Colin Kruger
May 4, 2011


A COURT application has been made to wind up the Gold Coast mortgage fund operator Equititrust, adding to a list of woes for the company that faces a potential class action by investors and is at the mercy of its banks.

Equititrust confirmed yesterday that the application was filed by Rural Security Holdings, a company associated with Ian Lazar.

''Equititrust is not indebted to RSH in any way,'' said the Equititrust chief executive, David Kennedy, by email yesterday evening.

Advertisement: Story continues below ''Their alleged debt is $200,000, which we can satisfy many times over from available cash but will not as there is no debt due.''

Mr Kennedy said Equititrust advised RSH's solicitors it would be making an application for an injunction to restrain them from advertising and notifying ASIC of the application, but RSH filed anyway. ''The case is a clear abuse of process and is simply commercial terrorism,'' he said.

Equititrust has other troubles to worry about.

The company has frozen investor redemptions and income distributions at its $260 million Equititrust Income Fund and recently confirmed that investors face large losses as well as a restructure.

Equititrust was forced to suspend payments and renegotiate terms with NAB on the loan earlier this year when EIF was almost out of cash.

NAB agreed to defer repayments for last December until February while it considered a new proposal that would match bank repayments with loan repayments by Equititrust clients.

EIF said that while the bank had not waived its rights under the facility, it had ''agreed to not take further action in relation to them''.

Last month Equititrust blamed delayed property sales settlements for the need to stop paying income distributions for the forseeable future and reported a $12.3 million loss for the half-year ending December 31.

Earlier this year Equititrust had to pull plans to raise $50 million via the Equititrust Priority Class Income Fund to refinance EIF's debt and fund distribution payments after ASIC expressed concerns about the proposal.

i got a letter from ALF PIF Finance Limited that has given me an offer consideration that if I sign it I will get back 0.1 per unit I held.

Should I accept it?

I hold about 16,000 units but I've always looked at this fund as a loss and declared the whole thing as a loss and never thought I'll see anything.
So should I get a few bucks back and look at this as a lesson?

Just by way of anecdote - a neighbour told me recently how he was witness to a scruffy youth being hauled in for shoplifting at a supermarket. It was, he said, quite dramatic with burly security men and shop staff surrounding the scared culprit. He was quickly carted off. It seems that he had hidden a torch and batteries in his clothing. I think the young man has chosen the wrong path. It’s a lot safer to choose a career as a big fish crook rather than that of a hounded petty criminal.

New ASIC HEAD

http://www.financialstandard.com.au/news/view/8444638/