Provincial investors must wait

The 14,000 holders of Provincial Finance debenture stock will have to wait for months to find out how much they will get back from their $323 million investment.

Receiver John Waller of PricewaterhouseCoopers said yesterday that little had changed since June 9, when he told debenture holders they would receive "most, if not all, of their investment over time". However, he repeated his warning that the payout depended largely on the level of recovery from Provincial's loan book.

Although a finance industry rescue package is now dead in the water, Waller was still considering "a range of options" for putting the company back on its feet, which would help it maximise returns to creditors.

All options depended on the value of the firm's loans. "Everyone's going to be cautious until we get a handle on what the book's worth," said Waller.

With 28,000 loans averaging $9000 each, that process would take some time. "You're talking months."

One option Waller ruled out for the time being was liquidation.

"Frankly, it's far too early for people to be talking about that and I think that becomes more destructive than constructive," he said. "By liquidating the company you narrow down your options considerably. At this stage that would not be a smart move."