CBA withholds consent to Motor Finance Wizard
Commonwealth Bank has withheld its consent for the proposed sale of PR Finance Group to Keybridge Capital, a deal needed to avoid a default on the part of the consumer financier.Keybridge proposes to buy PRFG via a scheme of arrangement that is designed to protect its interest in a mezzanine loan. PRFG will hold a second shareholders' meeting to vote on the scheme next month; this is after ASIC persuaded the Federal Court that shareholders lacked up-to-date financial data at the first scheme meeting.In the financial statements for the year to June 2012, dated 2 July this year and filed with ASIC yesterday, PRFG directors state that its "senior lender [CBA] has not consented to the scheme" and "would prefer to have its [loan] repaid sooner" than the due date of November 30.PRFG continues to seek to sell its main business, Motor Finance Wizard, to Marubeni, a Japanese trading conglomerate whose main interests in Australia are in mining. Marubeni's two-year-old equipment financing business funds the Hitachi, John Deere and Bell brands of mining and construction machinery.PRFG said the purchaser's board had approved "a final pricing structure and offer"PRFG's directors said the CBA loan was "most likely to be repaid" via the sale of MFW.The financial statements show PRFG incurred a loss of A$31.3 million in year to June 2012, thanks to a $25 million impairment on receivables.New business slumped as cash flow was prioritised for loan repayment. Motor Finance Wizard leased 2600 cars in 2012, down from 3300 in 2011.