High-profile businessman George Kerr was not "weak or vulnerable" when his Torchlight Fund borrowed A$37 million ($40.6 million) from a company directed by former Australian billionaire John Grill, the High Court heard yesterday.
Nor was there support, the court heard, for an allegation that Grill, 70, had acted "unconscionably or oppressively" in negotiating the 60-day loan, which accrued A$500,000 in fees for every week it was late.
It took Torchlight, a private equity-fund associated with Kerr, 19 months to repay the loan and a High Court dispute is under way in Auckland over whether a demand for A$31.5 million worth of late fees and interest is unenforceable.
While Torchlight is seeking a declaration to this effect, Grill's firm Wilaci wants judgment for A$35 million against the fund. Although Kerr told the court on Monday he was "exploited" in the loan deal, Wilaci's lawyer yesterday said the Pyne Gould Corporation managing director was not "weak or vulnerable".