About 60 Hanover investors heard of other options for the company, including liquidation. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Investors in the failed finance company Hanover have agreed to accept a moratorium on repayments in exchange for greater consultation and better supervision of the process.
About 60 Hanover investors have voted unanimously for a moratorium, after their deposits with the company were frozen last month.
At a
meeting on Sunday, they also formed a six-member committee to work with the Exposing Unacceptable Financial Activities (EUFA) Society - which organised the gathering at the Commerce Club of Auckland - before receiving Hanover's plan to restructure the business.
Last month, New Zealand's third-largest financial services group suspended investments amounting to $554 million in capital and interest repayments in Hanover Finance, its subsidiary United Finance and sister company Hanover Capital.
Investors were told that a detailed proposal would be presented to them this month after the company consulted its trustees - New Zealand Guardian Trust for Hanover Finance and Perpetual Trust for United Finance and Hanover Capital.
Soon after Hanover's announcements, some investors asked EUFA to set up a "Hanover investor group" to represent their interests, but society co-ordinator Suzanne Edmonds said it had been a struggle to "be heard".
"I have written to the leader of every political party, but all of them said they were too busy to meet," she said. "We have been totally ignored and it is very frustrating."
EUFA finance spokesman Gray Eatwell said: "The truth of the matter is, nobody in Parliament has stood up on this issue."
Lawyer Tim Rainey also weighed other options with investors, including receivership and liquidation.
"Whichever path you choose will still not make money appear out of nowhere if it isn't there."
We want to hear from investors who've lost money or had their funds frozen by some of the smaller finance firms over the last couple of years. Tell us in 50 words what you lost, and what you've learned.
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