South Canterbury Finance will repay a US$100 million loan to US lenders over the next five and a half months, the firm said yesterday. Unwinding of foreign exchange hedges around this will release cash for the financier. SCF said it was also close to finding a replacement lending facility of NZ$75 million with a third party to replace an unused NZ$100 million bank lending facility that was cancelled by mutual agreement with local banks. The new facility would be effective over the next week, it said.The US lenders in the private placement had the right to withdraw their funding after South Canterbury's credit rating was reduced to a sub-investment BB+ from an investment grade BBB- by Standard and Poor's in August.South Canterbury said it was still working on a capital restructure and gave no timetable for an announcement. It also did not give a timetable for the re-registration of its prospectus.South Canterbury needs a significant capital injection if it wants to have any hope of keeping its BB+ credit rating and extending its government guarantee from October next year.SCF's accounts, published earlier this month, showed that its banks had turned off an unused NZ$100 million lending facility to the finance company while it searched for new capital.Interest.co.nz