Exchange stops Seafresh trading

By IRENE CHAPPLE

Troubled Wellington company Seafresh is suspended from trading on the New Zealand Stock Exchange from today.

The suspension comes a month after the purchase of 55.98 per cent of the company by four buyers, including former Brierley executive Paddy Marra.

Seafresh hired Marra, a self-described "turn-around management specialist", in June to fix the company's troubles.

A letter to creditors asking them to "hold off" from seeking their money sparked the suspension, said Marra.

The NZSE said the company had advised it that Seafresh "will no longer accept responsibility for the costs of the company's share registry ... Accordingly, the exchange hereby suspends trading."

Marra said "the registry has chosen to regard that as they're not being paid."

But he believed the suspension was "fair ... I am not averse to a suspension. If we'd had a chance we may have suspended it anyway."

Marra said he was in delicate negotiations with creditors and was trying to "turn the company around".

He was preparing a report on the company that would be available to shareholders and creditors by August 14.

Seafresh has defaulted on a $1.35 million loan from Harts Contributory Mortgages, and original plans to sell the company's factory and repay the debt were unsuccessful.

An offer from Manila-based entrepreneur James Slade to buy 56.46 per cent of the company for $100,000 also fell through in April after due diligence was deemed unsatisfactory.

The June purchase by the four buyers was found to have breached the Takeovers Code because the four were acting in concert. But the company has been invited to seek exemption from the code after approval from Seafresh shareholders.

Seafresh, founded by the Lim family in 1982, had a $6.8 million loss for the year to last September, after a $2.8 million loss the previous year.