Pegasus funding woes trigger receivership
Pegasus, a property development north of Christchurch, is continuing to trade even though it has been put into receivership while funding is sorted out.
17 August 2012
A large New Zealand corporate and Brookfield Australia are involved in a corporate play over the future of the Pegasus township north of Christchurch, which will house 7000 people.
The township's developer Pegasus Town Ltd has been put in receivership, shareholder Bob Robertson told NZ Newswire.
He said there were no outstanding creditors and the company was trading on.
The issue leading to the receivership was a loan which had been sold to an investment consortium owned by Australia's Brookfield and Goldman Sachs.
Pegasus Town had been negotiating to buy back the loan and was a couple of days away from a deal.
He said the receivership was either to "hurry up" the offer or because the loan holders were sick of waiting.
He had a large New Zealand corporate lined up to invest in the project and they still wanted to put in an offer for the loan but Brookfield may want to take the project on itself.
"They're a pretty big firm and they do subdivisions," he said.
The loan in dispute was worth a net $55 million, he said.
He said the business was cashflow positive and it was trading well. The project had achieved $200 million of sales.
"In terms of the Pegasus Town it's business as usual," he said.
The town has been under development for eight years and now has about 600 residents out of an intended 7000.
Pegasus Town Ltd is half-owned by Infinity Group and half-owned by Pegasus Trustees Ltd.
The receiver is Simon Thorne of Grant Thornton.
NZN
© 2013 NZN, NZCity
