KEY POINTS:
Blue Chip parent company Northern Crest's attempts to put some daylight between itself and the mess left by the failure of its local operations continued yesterday, with the liquidation of subsidiary Blue Chip New Zealand Ltd.
In an update to the market, ASX-listed Northern Crest said "New Zealand trading subsidiary" Blue Chip NZ Ltd had been placed in voluntary liquidation, joining 20 other Blue Chip companies that are now being wound up.
"This particular subsidiary had performed a centralised treasury function within the group prior to the sale of the business to the New Zealand franchise," Northern Crest chairman Julian Gosse said.
However, Northern Crest said a number of other trading subsidiaries in this country were "unaffected by the liquidation of the New Zealand franchise".
They would continue to operate primarily to collect receivables.
Blue Chip liquidator Jeff Meltzer confirmed he had asked for Blue Chip NZ to be put into liquidation to aid his investigation into the collapse of the property investment group with losses running at more than $72 million.
In the months leading up to Blue Chip's failure to meet rent and interest payments to its clients late last year, Blue Chip adopted a "franchise" model, farming out its local operations to separate companies which are those now in liquidation.
Northern Crest was known as Blue Chip Financial Solutions. It changed its name on April 1 "to quarantine the listed company from the reputational damage associated with the cancellation of the New Zealand franchise which operated under the Blue Chip brand".
Northern Crest said a recapitalisation plan would see a "major shareholder" provide A$3 million in short term funding and also underwrite the first A$3 million of a A$4 million rights issue planned for June this year. It also said it had "successfully renegotiated banking and loan facilities for its subsidiaries in Australia and New Zealand.
"It is intended that all debt currently owed by Northern Crest to its secured financiers in Australia and New Zealand will be repaid by March 31, 2009."
Its secured creditors include Lombard Finance and Investments which was last night placed in receivership.
Gosse went on to say that Northern Crest had now lifted its interest in the Australian operations of Tasman Mortgages from 50 to 100 per cent. The business had been half-owned by Lombard Finance's parent Lombard Group which acquired Blue Chip's remaining 30 per cent of Tasman Mortgages' New Zealand business last month.
Yesterday's announcement also confirmed that the 16 per cent stake in Northern Crest acquired by ANZ Banking Group as a result of brokerage Opes-Prime's collapse was most of Blue Chip founder Mark Bryers' remaining stake in the company.
Gosse said Bryers disputed ANZ's claim to title over the shares which remain in a trading halt and last changed hands for A9c.
