Securitibank creditors now all paid

Press, 21 April 1986, Page 28

Securitibank creditors now all paid

PA Auckland Unsecured creditors of the Securitibank group of companies are about to receive full satisfaction of their debts.

The liquidator, Mr Harold Goodman, says he will have surplus funds in hand after making the further payment of about $8 million next month. Mr Goodman said that the effect of this further payment would be that all unsecured creditors will have been paid 100 c in the dollar. The dividend will take total payouts to about $54 million. The latest dividend will be the fourth made by Mr Goodman since his appointment in 1979. The total payment of SS4M comprises S23M to secured creditors and S3IM to unsecured creditors. Mr Goodman said the surplus funds available after the payment next month would not be large in the context of the liquidation. However, he said that if he was successful with

“certain matters in the pipeline” there could be a significant increase in the amount of surplus funds. -

The question to whom the surplus should be dis-, tributed, either to the shareholders* or as interest to the unsecured creditors, raised questions of law. Mr Goodman said advice from his solicitors ' indicated that certain - classes of .'creditors, the * bill holders and those . who had suffered short- ; falls on mortgages, might be entitled to interest *

To resolve this ques- 1 tion, Mr Goodman hopes - to seek a direction from « the High Court within the - next few months. '

Mr Goodman is pursuing actions against seven former directors of the Securitibank group ; against whom he will claim about $6.5M. He has already recovered more than SSM in out-of-court settlements with the former auditors and institutional shareholders of Securitibank.