Mystery man holds key to Bridgecorp's lost millions

Investors in tenuous position: receivers

By Madeleine Collins
Thu 12 Jul 2007

Bridgecorp's investors face an uphill battle.

Any hope that Bridgecorp investors will see their money again lies with former Australian fast bowler Craig McDermott who owes the embattled company more than $18 million.

The Australian fundraising arm of the New Zealand property financier owes $19.6 million to 855 debenture note holders and $5 million to 177 unsecured note holders.

Bridgecorp receivers Ferrier Hodgson and administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers met with investors for the first time in Sydney yesterday.

Cricketing legend McDermott has a long-standing debt of more than $18 million in notes and mortgages, which equates to 80 per cent of company's loan book.

"A significant proportion of the loan relates to one individual group," Ferrier Hodgson receiver Brian Silvia said.

"It all depends on the one dealer."

He said secured note holders will get some money back but unsecured note holders are in a more tenuous position.

"Getting your money back in full? Tough," he said.

Bridgecorp is the fourth unlisted property group to collapse in 18 months after the failure of Westpoint, Fincorp and Australian Capital Reserve, which owe around $1 billion to investors.

The series of crashes has prompted Labor to call for a parliamentary inquiry.

Seventy-nine-year-old John Hanafin, who attended yesterday's meeting, put $70,000 into Bridgecorp.

He and his daughter Louise Hanafin invested $120,000 with Fincorp.

"They cleaned us out," John Hanafin said. "There's no excuse for this and there's no excuse for Fincorp."

New Zealand receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers announced yesterday they have sacked 13 Bridgecorp staff including the managing director Rod Petricevic and finance director Rob Roest.

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