Briefs: PEXA mulling IPO, Investors lose cash on ATMs, QBE sells US lender services business

Banking Day staff
  • Electronic property settlement business Property Exchange Australia is in the early stages of selecting an independent adviser ahead of a potential A$1 billion IPO or trade sale, the AFR's Street Talk reports. PEXA, launched in 2010 to modernise property settlements, is reportedly on track to repay its $120 million set-up costs in 2016, by which time its largest shareholders Macquarie Group, (which holds 25 per cent), Paul Little (former CEO of Toll Holdings), the CBA and Link Market Services (a share registry business) can expect a big payday. Smaller holdings are shared among the three other major banks and the State Governments of NSW, Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland.

  • The fallout after ATM distributer and servicing company DSM Direct ran out of its own money has been revived with allegations aired on news channels that there are - and may always have been - more investors than cash machines. In addition, administrators KordaMentha have said "hundreds" of ATMs have gone missing in recent years. There is also an emerging dispute over who holds title to each machine, with the liquidators seizing possession of 300 ATMs, over the objections of investors, as the ABC reported in its news and current affairs radio program, PM, last night.

  • Insurer QBE is selling its Mortgage and Lender Services division. The company announced yesterday that it had entered into an agreement with National General Holdings Corp, which will acquire the US-based business. M&LS is in the business of providing home building insurance to lenders whose borrowers have allowed their cover to lapse (in the US mortgage contracts require that buildings be insured). Recent QBE financial reports have shown that the downturn in home lending in the US since the GFC has hurt the business.