No Brierley bid now—chief

Press, 8 March 1989, Page 6

No Brierley bid now —chief

PA Wellington Brierley Investments is not interested in bidding for the Bank of New Zealand now, said the chief executive, Mr Paul Collins, yesterday. Brierley had a bid turned down by the Government late last year because it was too low. Mr Collins said that he would be surprised if any bid made now by National Australia Bank was as high as the Brierley one. The latter had been made on the basis of "very thorough due diligence” made by Brierley which was aware of the extent of bad debt provisions required by the BNZ, he said. r The bid preceded last month’s

disclosure by the BNZ board of a forecast loss of more than $l6O million this year. “We were fully aware of what the implications (of the bad debts) were,” Mr Collins said. Mr Collins said the BNZ’s value had been depressed by negative comments made about it by Government members and their advisers, the news media and sharebrokers, more than by the bad debts. "It’s not just a single comment. If you looked at all the comments about the bank... the totality is negative. It reflects poorly on the bank,” he said. / “The level of comments has been quite horrifying."

Just back from London, Mr Collins said market analysts there were astounded at what they saw as an over-reaction within New Zealand to the BNZ’s problems. “They can’t believe the kind of things the Government and Government officials have been saying about a State-owned bank. It would be absolutely unheard of (there),” Mr Collins said. Asked if existing public perceptions would have to be overcome before Brierley was again a prospective buyer of the bank, Mr Collins said this was one issue. He repeated Brierley’s earlier statement that it was always interested in 'any big New Zealand asset that was for sale.