The offer, which is underwritten by First NZ Capital Securities, and is part of a plan to get achieve its goal of becoming a publicly listed banking and asset management company.

The company says that the capital raising has a number of benefits for MARAC investors:

• $35m of new equity capital into MARAC, ensuring compliance with bank and NBDT capital requirements;
• MARAC's balance sheet will be further strengthened through the sale and transfer of impaired or likely to be impaired property development loans for total consideration of circa $175m, comprising of $125m of cash and a loan note of $50m;
• The additional equity and proceeds from property development loan divestment will increase MARAC's liquidity; and,
• PGC will be debt free and hold additional cash, providing it with financial flexibility to support growth initiatives of its businesses.

During a press conference PGC admitted that Marac had made mistakes during the boom, but it assured investors it has learnt the lessons.

One of the mistakes was that it "strayed" into property development to source profits and enhance dividends.

It said there was insufficient portfolio information going through to the board, especially around second mortgages. Also relationship managers were given too much discretion around what deals they could do.

It says there was "insufficient division of responsibilities with respect to risk at a senior level"

These issues were being addressed and Marac was going to stick to what it knows best, plant and machinery, also it was establishing a risk committee along with a dedicated chief risk officer with independent accountabilities to oversee future lending.

DOCS

PGC Release

PGC Presentation [PDF 488KB]