Trading in MFS shares suspended in NZ

A statement on NZX said the trading halt for MFS New Zealand would be in place for two days.

MFS owns the MFS Pacific Finance company which has about $300 million in debentures invested by 12,000 investors. About $80 million of debentures are due to mature in the first three months of this year.

Other New Zealand assets including advisory group Vestar are owned by MFS in Australia.

Good Returns was unable to get hold of MFS New Zealand chief executive Jason Maywald yesterday and it is unclear whether MFS Pacific is still accepting money from the investment public. However, MFS ads were played on Newstalk last night.

MFS New Zealand, is 38.5% owned by the Australian company.

The ASX-listed company had its shares suspended from trading last week after the company said it was in discussions to sell its Stella Group travel and property subsidiary to pay down debt.