Early Marac voting running about 90% in favour of merger

Early voting on the 'heartland bank' merger proposal among Marac debt holders is running at about 90% in favour, says Craig Stephen, chief investment officer who will become treasurer of the new bank.

Speaking in Napier at a presentation on the proposed merger between Pyne Gould's Marac with CBS Canterbury and Southern Cross Building which will be listed on NZX, Stephen said a key point was explaining to investors that although their holdings in debentures and bonds will go from being "secured" to "unsecured" their ranking won't change.

While finance companies have made much of their debentures being secured and have often made it sound like it offered greater security than it actually did.

If the merger proceeds, investors will rank equally with the new bank's bankers, Westpac and Bank of New Zealand, Stephen said.