Heartland shares rise as Quadrant sells 9pc stake

1.Exterior view of Heartland House which is for sale at 35 Teed St, Newmarket.

Shares of Heartland New Zealand rose after coming out of a trading halt as Quadrant Private Equity sells its 9 per cent stake in the bank formed from the merger of Marac Finance with Southern Cross and Canterbury building societies.

The Australian private equity firm put in a block order for its 8.75 per cent stake, or 41.1 million shares, via brokerage First NZ Capital offering the shares at $1.30, a 1 cent discount to where the shares had last traded prior to the trading halt, the block trade announcement released to the stock exchange shows.

Shares of the Christchurch-based lender rose 0.8 per cent to $1.32 after the trading halt lifted.

The sale comes after the escrow period for the block ended when Quadrant and its partners sold Seniors Money International to Heartland last year for $87 million, of which $38.7 million was in stock at 90 cents apiece.

The lender is targeting expansion through niche markets, particularly in the consumer finance sector.

Last year it bought the reverse mortgage business from Seniors Money and has also taken a 10 per cent stake in peer-to-peer lender Harmoney Corp for $3.5 million to accelerate growth.

The lender estimates its stake in Harmoney is now worth $5 million.

Some $17 million has been lent through the online platform.