Familiar names in new finance deal

By SIMON HENDERY

A company associated with financial advisers Money Managers appears to be the new backer of Auckland's Parliament St property development.

The Securities Commission last week said investors in a contributory mortgage for the Parliament St development were given misleading information.

It has referred the case to the Companies Office, which will consider laying charges.

Money Managers and associated company Securities Registry promoted the contributory mortgage.

More than 1200 small investors put up about half of the $27 million sought for the project.

The Parliament St project has been dogged by safety issues, including the death of a worker on the site.

Money Managers said on Friday that it had arranged refinancing for the project, so contributory mortgage investors would receive their money back in full, with interest.

Alasdair Scott, Money Managers' marketing director, said yesterday that the matter was now out of Money Managers' hands.

"We aren't even aware of who is involved," he said.

Scott said he believed Parliament St developer Brent Clode and the new financier wanted to keep details of the refinancing confidential.

But Company Office records show that a mortgage with a maximum priority sum of $50 million between Securities Registry Ltd and 1 Parliament Street Carpark Ltd (Clode's company, which is developing the site) was registered last Tuesday.

Money Managers' founder and managing director, Doug Somers-Edgar, is a Securities Registry director, as is his wife, Anne.

The Securities Commission yesterday declined to comment on the refinancing.

Meanwhile, Scott said Money Managers would pay the fees, estimated at $54,000, of Christchurch mortgage broker Crichton Horne & Associates, so investors would not be out of pocket.

In March, the commission appointed the firm to oversee the Parliament St mortgage.