The Financial Markets Authority has warned the directors of failed finance company St Laurence instead of taking court action.
St Laurence collapsed into receivership in 2010 owing $212 million to more than 9000 debenture-holders, of which its receivers recovered 16.7 cents in the dollar ($35.4m). It is in liquidation.
The authority has closed its investigation into the company and has formally warned eight directors over what it describes as potential breaches of the Securities Act.
It said that based on the evidence it had seen, it considered that St Laurence’s September 2007 prospectus failed to properly disclose information about loan quality and liquidity for the period from March to June 2008.
“FMA has reached the view that in distributing the prospectus with inadequate disclosure, there was likely to be a breach of the Securities Act 1978, for which the directors may be liable,” the authority said.
The directors who have been warned are Kevin John Podmore, James Sherwin, Geoffrey McWilliam, Keith Sutton, Barry Graham, Aeneas Edward O’Sullivan, Andrew Walker and Sandra Lee.
Podmore, the company’s former managing director, bankrupted himself in December 2011 after failing to pay a personal guarantee of $20m pledged in 2008 when St Laurence went into moratorium.
The authority said a warning was an “appropriate and proportionate response” in this case.
Full story see:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/10097930/FMA-warns-St-Laurence-directors
Background reading
Bankrupt’s Million-dollar lifestyle. Published. 24/12/11
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/6187060/Bankrupts-million-dollar-lifestyle
A failed Wellington finance boss is likely to continue living in a $2m home despite declaring himself bankrupt, robbing thousands of investors of hope of getting their money back.
Former Wellington finance company boss Kevin John Podmore has declared himself bankrupt, absolving personal responsibility for paying out any funds to the 9400 investors who lost $245m in his St Laurence companies.
The bankruptcy should have little impact on his lifestyle as he is expected to continue to live in the $2.27 million family house that was moved into his wife’s name several years ago, which one investor who lost money in St Laurence labelled “bloody disgusting”.
Podmore had made a $20m personal guarantee to St Laurence investors in 2008 through three of his other companies, before it was taken over by receivers in April 2010.
But when the guarantee was called in, it appeared Podmore was unable to pay. The move to make himself bankrupt came shortly after the trustee of the guarantee, Perpetual, told Podmore it would begin bankruptcy proceedings against him.
For full story see: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/6187060/Bankrupts-million-dollar-lifestyle
Also see: http://www.sharechat.co.nz/article/559b5e72/st-laurence-receivers-get-nothing-from-podmore-bankruptcy.html
Leave a Reply