anz makes offer

Michael West
May 29, 2008 - 3:02PM

ANZ Bank has offered Opes Prime's administrators a 62-cents-in-the dollar settlement in a bid to bury the painful saga which has undermined its reputation and promises to dog the bank in the courts for years.

Sources close to the negotiations between the adminstrator John Lindholm of Ferrier Hodgson and ANZ executives said the offer had not yet been accepted by Lindholm.

Even if were accepted by Lindholm, he would still have to put it to Opes' 1200 creditors to decide.

ANZ is yet to respond to questions over the proposal.

It is believed the offer does not include a demand to release ANZ from damages and other claims which are afoot from creditors themselves.

However, it would release the bank from claims made by the administration and therefore by Opes' companies themselves.

As revealed in BusinessDay last week, the bank had commenced settlement talks.

These coincided in a suppression order on The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and this reporter, regarding leaked documents.