Sharechat Logo

Kerr's Torchlight taps sophisticated investors for $150 mill war chest

Monday 5th July 2010

Text too small?

Pyne Gould’s cornerstone investor George Kerr has tapped sophisticated investors for a $150 million war chest seeking opportunities while banks are unwilling to open their credit lines.  

Torchlight, the vehicle that provided a $100 million facility to embattled financier South Canterbury Finance, will manage the fund, called the Torchlight Fund No.1 LP, which could rise by a further $20 million following reserved allocations.

The backing came from local and international investors and investment companies. Torchlight Investment managing director John Duncan said the fund will focus on investment opportunities when banking capital is restricted.  

“This is the case with Torchlight’s SCF loan which is delivering liquidity to help them get through their restructuring whilst delivering attractive yield to Torchlight investors at a super senior risk position, ranking ahead of debenture holders,” Duncan said in a statement.  

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard is keen to see business lending resume after the global financial crisis sapped banks’ ability to provide funding for the commercial sector, and forced many businesses to either pay down their debt or shut up shop.  

Torchlight Investment, which is part of Pyne Gould’s wealth management arm, owns 10%, or $15 million, of the Torchlight Fund – which is equal to its exposure to SCF.

The Pyne Gould unit will have access to substantially more funds from co-investors when it lead manages and arranges bigger deals, Kerr said.  

The shares rose 5.3% to 40 cents in trading today.  

Businesswire.co.nz



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

Pyne Gould annual profit beats forecast by 48 percent on asset sales, Torchlight returns
Pyne Gould says FY profit to be about $30 mln after asset sales
Pyne Gould's Kerr finds buyer for Perpetual wealth management units
Pyne Gould plunges 19 percent to record low after annual meeting
Kerr too busy to attend Pyne Gould AGM, focuses on Perpetual sale
Pyne Gould mulls options after court decides FMA raid was unlawful
Pyne Gould completes Heartland exit in $7.9M sale
PGC repays $22M in bank debt from asset sales
Pyne Gould's Perpetual freezes mortgage fund due to run on cash
Appeal court lifts veil on FMA action to recover $25M in Pyne Gould related-party loans