http://business.smh.com.au/anz-makes-opes-offer-20080529-2je4.htm...

http://business.smh.com.au/anz-makes-opes-offer-20080529-2je4.html


ANZ makes Opes offer
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May 29, 2008 - 3:21PM
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ANZ Bank has offered Opes Prime's administrators a 62-cents-in-the dollar settlement in a bid to end 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 it 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.

As reported here last week, Lindholm and ANZ had agreed to negoitate on a deal for Opes' hapless unsecured creditors.

The talks effectively spanned two of the three relevant players. Apart from Lindholm and the ANZ , the other party is the collection of Opes unsecured creditors.

If Lindholm can achieve a settlement, its unsecured creditors will benefit, although some 1200 other loose ends would remain unless the Opes clients are dealt in.

That move to negotiate was a positive development for Opes clients whose $1.1 billion in investments - or what they thought were their investments - is vanishing.

As ANZ is yet to sell Opes' illiquid securities, hopes had been fading of any return to unsecured creditors.

Last week, ANZ spokesman Paul Edwards said about 90% of its $710 million loan exposure had been sold and the bank would continue to sell despite the negotiations.

At the demise of Opes in late March, there was about $900 million of share collateral against $650 million in security.

But much of the stock is in small, illiquid companies that ANZ has found hard to sell in any quantity over the past two months.

Lindholm has said he expects to report to creditors by June 23, giving the parties one month to find an outcome. ANZ has been non-committal on any time frame.

Lindholm said that if a deal had not been struck by June 23, but progress made, the parties could go back to the court to get an extension to the convening period.