Veritas Investments has to find $28.5 million in the next year or so after ANZ Bank New Zealand said it won't renew its banking facilities as they come due.
The company's board is working through a number of options, including selling or merging its various units with external parties, recapitalising the business or refinancing the loans with a new lender, chairman Tim Cook said in a statement.
The debt comes due in October and November of this year and through to September next year, and while that creates a "material uncertainty" over Veritas's future, "the directors consider that there is a reasonable expectation that the above options can be executed and that ANZ will support the group through this process," he said.
Veritas repaid $4.8m of bank debt in the 12 months ended June 30 after the lender leaned on the company to map out a strategy to sell unprofitable businesses and review its capital plan. That included the sale of the upmarket Nosh supermarkets and the company-owned Mad Butcher stores.
Despite the loss of its lender's support, Veritas's board prepared its annual accounts on a going concern basis. However, it acknowledged that relies on finding alternative funding sources within the bank's timeframe or winning a reprieve from the bank.
