Investor run finishes LDC

LDC Finance, a small finance company based in Nelson, yesterday became the eighth such firm to hit the wall in seventeen months in New Zealand.

Perpetual Trust said said a rush of redemptions at the end of last week triggered the decision to appoint receivers. LDC had advised the Securities Commission in the days prior that it was still solvent.

LDC is pretty small beer. The Bob Dey Property Report, citing PricewaterhouseCoopers as receivers, said LDC had financial assets of NZ$23.8 million, and down from NZ$29.3 million six months ago, when two Nelson investors injected NZ$4 million to keep the company afloat.

The firm provided equipment and property finance and also lent funds on to other finance companies.

LDC had 408 investors in NZ$11.1 million of secured debentures, 576 investors with NZ$7.9 million in call deposits, another 11 investors with term deposits.

The Dominion Post reported that directors were confident that all investors would get their money back.