Company caught up in Opes fall

Stricken property investment company Blue Chip's problems mounted yesterday with the news a sizeable chunk of its shares are among those caught up in the collapse of Australian brokerage Opes Prime.

Opes Prime, which was involved in the lending and borrowing of securities, owes more than A$1 billion ($1.17 billion) to secured creditors - mainly ANZ and Merrill Lynch.

ANZ said it had acquired shares in several ASX listed companies under transactions related to Australian Master Securities Lending Agreements with Opes Prime. Among these holdings is a 16 per cent stake in Blue Chip Financial Solutions.

ANZ has now begun to sell the shares to recover dues owed by Opes Prime.

Blue Chip stock remain in a trading halt put in place on February 14 after the collapse of its New Zealand operations.

Blue Chip last traded at A9c, down from their offer price two years ago of A74c.

That values the stake held by ANZ at A$1.7 million.