KEY POINTS:
When finance companies fail, it throws the industry in disarray and makes potential investors justifiably jittery.
Bridgecorp's collapse is just the latest in a chain of high profile collapses that the market has seen recently.
2006 saw these four significant finance companies go under:
National Finance 2000
National Finance 2000 went into receivership in May 2006 after failing to meet asset-to-debt ratios. It was the second company to collapse under Allan Ludlow's leadership - his first finance company, National Finance, collapsed in 1999.
Payless Cars
Payless Cars, an associated company of National Finance also went into receivership. National Finance provided loans for cars being purchased through its Payless Cars dealerships in the greater Auckland region.
Provincial Finance
Provincial Finance LTD was placed into receivership one month after National Finance 2000 by Perpetual Trust Limited. Also placed into receivership were Provincial Finance's subsidiaries Consumer Credit and South Auckland Cars LTD. PricewaterhouseCoopers were named receivers for Provincial Finance and also for National Finance 2000.
Western Bay Finance
Western Bay Finance, a Tauranga based finance company which dealt mainly with car loans, went into receivership in August last year. The receivers were Ferrier Hodgson.
- NZHERALD STAFF
