Washing up on the South Seas

Just as New Zealand's courts are filling up with the tail-end of claims against now-disgraced financial firms - Bridgecorp and Blue Chip, for example, other jurisdictions are going through a similar process.

The big news, of course, is the US regulator's tilt at Goldman Sachs, which has estimated its legal costs will skyrocket as the action proceeds.

The lawyers will be happy but the public may also be served with an education about how these firms actually run. I look forward to further updates.

But already there is enough happening already in our own neck of the woods. Across the Tasman, for instance, the once-mighty Gold Coast-based MFS is having its dirty laundry aired before the courts.

Surprisingly, the MFS case hasn't received much coverage in New Zealand as I recall the company sucked about $300 million out of investors here.

This chronology on the Australian Delisted website gives an almost up-to-date version of the story so far.

But the latest report on the MFS case, which is being heard in the NSW Supreme Court, includes this fascinating email from the company's boss, Michael King, explaining in detail to his chief financial officer why he wanted to borrow another $100 million or so quickly.

"I want the money in the can asap," King wrote, "so we can do a heap of things'."

Which, as anyone familiar with the history of the South Seas Bubble will know, sounds eerily like the famous UK IPO promotional material circa 1720 from a company that wanted money for: "For carrying-on an undertaking of great advantage but no-one to know what it is."

Apparently, the promoters raised about £2000 for this venture. I'm not sure what happened to the money, or the entrepreneurs who raised it - a happy retirement on the Gold Coast maybe?


David Chaplin