Hanover accord leaves Guardian Trust role unclear

Former Hanover director Mark Hotchin has fought to have Guardian Trust included in the FMA's civil case against him and five others associated with the finance group. Photo / Brett Phibbs

As investors digest the implications of the FMA's Hanover deal, it is still unclear if Guardian Trust will be liable to pay any of the $18m settlement amount.

Guardian was the trustee of Hanover Finance and Mark Hotchin has spent years trying to join it into the FMA's civil case against him and five others associated with the finance group.

That civil case - against Hotchin, Eric Watson, Greg Muir, Bruce Gordon, Sir Tipene O'Regan and Dennis Broit - has now settled.

All of the men, with the exception of Watson, are required to pay a combined $18 million that will eventually be distributed to up to 5,500 eligible investors, it was announced yesterday,

Whether Guardian Trustee will be required to contribute to any of what is paid is still a live issue.

Hotchin in March made a Supreme Court bid to have the company included in the FMA's civil case and a decision has yet to be released.

If Hotchin's appeal against Guardian Trust is successful, he and the other directors would want to pursue a claim that it should contribute to whatever they paid in the settlement, his QC Nathan Gedye said yesterday.

In 2013, then Chief High Court Judge Helen Winkelmann said Hanover's trustees did not have a duty to verify the accuracy of statements in the prospectuses that formed the heart of the FMA's case.

Hotchin challenged that decision but was unsuccessful in the Court of Appeal. He was given leave to argue the case before the country's highest court but the five judges who heard it have yet to release a decision.

Hotchin had also attempted to join Perpetual Trust into that case but settled with it in a confidential deal.