Re: Octaviar MFS Premium Income Fund PIF
This is from the Gold Coast Bulletin Aug 9th. I have highlighted the relative PIF bit.
Nick Nichols
August 9th, 2008
OCTAVIAR appears to be winning over small creditors in its bid to stay alive.
The embattled financial services company, formerly MFS, said it had received early support from note-holders on a payout offer which it has extended to all creditors, who are owed a total of $1 billion.
Octaviar owes $351 million on its listed notes and has offered a 22.5c-in-the-dollar payout on all sums above $5000 owed to about 560 noteholders.
It has agreed to pay the first $5000 in full, triggering a rush by smaller noteholders to accept.
Octaviar has received 184 voting forms since it made its offer three weeks ago, with more than 95 per cent by number accepting the offer.
Of the votes received, it said, 88 per cent by value had accepted.
"While the responses are more than a third of the total noteholders by number, the 20 largest holders account for more than 85 per cent by value," said Octaviar company secretary David Anderson in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange last night.
The offer, which needs the support of at least 75 per cent of noteholders to proceed, had been due to close on Monday at 7pm, but the larger noteholders have sought an extension to consider the offer, said Mr Anderson.
Octaviar has extended the offer until 4pm on August 29.
The same offer has been made to the James Packer-backed Challenger Financial Services, owed $100 million in unlisted bonds.
Octaviar owes $197.5 million to the Jenny Hutson-controlled Premium Income Fund, $246 million to its New Zealand subsidiary OPI Pacific Finance and $53 million to the Australian Taxation Office.
It said the $40 million owed to the National Australia Bank through a guarantee for funds lent to former subsidiary Living and Leisure Australia (LLA) had been repaid.
The repayment was made through the completion of a recapitalisation plan which this week delivered almost half of LLA to Mr Packer's private equity vehicle, Arctic Capital.
The Premium Income Fund has already indicated it will accept the payout offer, while Octaviar is still working on its payout offer for OPI Pacific Finance. It also has yet to gauge the ATO's response.
"The company has sought a meeting next week with officers of the ATO to fully explain the offer being made," said Mr Anderson.
Last month, Octaviar averted a winding-up move brought against it by the Public Trustee of Queensland, which at the time was acting on behalf of the noteholders.
Creditors have been warned by Octaviar director Chris Scott that liquidation would deliver, at best, 13.9c in the dollar to all unsecured creditors.
I’m sorry but I find it hard to swallow that the ‘press’ keep getting this wrong.
WC, via their phone line assures us that JH is in their boots and all for us, aggressively negotiating for PIF investors.
But time and again we hear that JH has accepted ‘the deal’ from Scott.
This apparent compliance with OCV still points to WC being “in bed’ with OCV…..and I don’t think that is in the best interest of PIF investors.
Part of me feels the move, way back, to place PIF at arms length from Octaviar is not sincere and that WC is either a puppet of OCV, or JH and Scott remain in strong cahoots.
It seems the other Major creditors, who now have until the 29 th August to accept, are very much still negotiating something better.
Why have PIF straight away put their hand up for what must be the best deal for OCV ?