Hubbard's Helicopters in $154m sale

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Canadian Helicopters Group, Canada's biggest chopper services company, paid $154 million after completing its purchase of Allan Hubbard's Helicopters (NZ).

The Canadian company paid $6 million less than what was flagged in April after Queenstown tourism operator Total Tourism exercised its right to buy HNZ's half-stake in Glacier Helicopters Holdings.

Canadian Helicopters drew down C$93 million of a new revolving credit facility of C$125 million with National Bank of Canada, Caisse Central Desjardins and Canadian Western Bank to finance the acquisition.

The deal will lift the Canadian company's fleet by a third to 160 choppers, and add an annual C$62.2 million of revenue to its books, based on the local company's 2010 performance.

The Canadian company's shares rose 1.3 per cent to C$25.55 in trading on the TSX, and have climbed 34 per cent since the deal was announced in April.

The deal was the first since Hubbard's South Canterbury Finance Ltd. was tipped into receivership last year, prompting a $1.7 billion call on the government's deposit guarantee scheme.

The net cost of that call has ballooned from the initial $400 million to $500 million cost flagged by Prime Minister John Key.

In May, Auckland-based private investment firm Direct Capital agreed to buy SCF's 79.7 per cent stake in Scales Corp for $44 million.

SCF receivers Kerryn Downey and William Black of McGrathNicol have also put the failed lender's so-called 'good bank' assets on the block, which were valued at $939 million in their first report.

They had previously put SCF's three-quarter stake in the Face Finance loan book up for sale in February. The total book value was $197 million.

The Serious Fraud Office has yet to decide on whether it will pursue prosecution over SCF's failure, and is looking at a handful of the lender's transactions.

The white-collar crime investigator charged Hubbard with 50 counts of fraud in relation to his investment vehicles Aorangi Securities and Hubbard Managed Funds.