Greenway puts shared equity launch on hold
The investment boutique Greenway Capital, which hopes to be the second company to offer a shared equity mortgage in the Australian market, said it had sufficient investor support to keep afloat even though its product launch has been put on hold indefinitely.Last week it was revealed that Greenway had retrenched its retail launch team after conceding that it was unlikely to get its product to market in the short term.Greenway chief executive Peter Martin said the group was forced to make staff cuts to conserve its cash in what could be a very tough year, but he said there was no question of the business folding.Greenway's 2007 financial statement shows a loss of $8.6 million on revenue of only $214,531 for the year to June. Accumulated losses were $15.4 million.The notes to the accounts say: "The company is currently in its formative stages of development. Under these circumstances, there is uncertainty as to whether the company will continue as a going concern and, therefore, whether it will realise its assets and settle its liabilities and commitments in the normal course of business."But the company had $5 million of cash in the bank and very little debt. It paid interest of only $16,000.During the 2006-07 year there was an increase in contributed equity of $9.6 million, with $5 million coming from one investor.Martin said: "We have very patient investors - high net worth investors and private equity. There is no lack of belief in what we are doing."Martin said Greenway had been working towards the launch of a shared equity mortgage late last year and had put a launch team together than included business development managers and back office operations staff.Martin gave an interview to the Eureka Report's Alan Kohler last July in which he said the product was about to launch.The liquidity crisis in the credit market set Greenway back. Martin said: "We were getting very positive signals in our discussions with local and overseas and superannuation funds, but now the market is much more risk averse. "The pricing for risk is so uncertain at the moment. We are still confident of getting funded but I could not tell you whether it will be in three months or in 2009."What I can say is that there are major financial services businesses that believe our product has legs. We are continuing to work on funding solutions."The only shared equity mortgage to have made it to market so far was developed by Rismark International. The product, known as an equity finance mortgage, was launched a year ago in a partnership with Adelaide Bank.