Original value burned off by ANZ

ANZ yesterday advised the few remaining bidders, and then the wider market, of its decision to abandon the proposed sale of Origin Mortgage Management Services, the bank's wholesale mortgage funding arm.

The bank put Origin on the market in June following at least one substantive approach to buy the businesss.

That was a virtual lifetime ago in the current condition of the capital market.

The liquidity crisis killed the prospect of a sale of Origin. Non-bank buyers were those most interested in the business and this group of lenders is now struggling to secure satisfactory terms to fund their existing mortgage operations.

Not that Origin would have proved to be worth much to ANZ in more favourable conditions.

Origin's monthly lending volumes are rumoured to have dwindled to tens of millions a month.

ANZ paid Rabobank somewhere between $70 million and $100 million for Origin nine years ago. In today's market that business appears to be worth nearer to zero.