Judge goes under

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 43

Judge goes under

PA Wellington Judge Corporation, the Christchurch-based investment group, yesterday went into receivership, 13 months after its creditors teamed up to put together a rescue package. But events surrounding the receivership appear as complex as the array of deals the company compiled in the heady days of the sharemarket boom. Debenture holders the Bank of New Zealand' and NZI Securities, as Judge Corporation’s main secured creditors, have appointed Mr Alan Isaac and Mr John Drage from the Wellington office of Peat Marwick as receivers. Points to emerge last evening from a statement by Judge directors, through their lawyers Kensington Swan, include: • The resignation of all Judge Corporation’s directors from the parent company and its subsidiaries, after talks with the receivers. • The likely cancellation of the annual meeting scheduled for Christchurch on December 21 and publication of accounts for the year ended June 30. • The possibility of the receivership being challenged, because it is based on money being owed to the BNZ, which Judge directors have denied. But they say such a challenge would be “a Pyrrhic victory” unless it achieved something for shareholders. It is not clear how much the BNZ and NZI are owed, though it is widely believed to be many tens of millions of dollars in loans made before the sharemarket crash last year. Spokesmen from the BNZ and NZI could not be contacted last evening. Mr John Mathewson, a Christchurch-based accountant and until yesterday, a Judge director, said that any questions regarding the receivership should be directed to the company. Mr Mathewson would not say when he had resigned from the company. Judge directors (or former directors as the case may be) said in a statement that Judge Corporation does not owe the BNZ any money, after the BNZ agreed to buy its major asset — a 19.9 per cent stake in Ariadne Australia. The directors said delays caused by a dispute between the BNZ and NZI over priority of security cost Judge Corporation any chance of salvaging something for its shareholders.