This may be some good news for Becton : -...

This may be some good news for Becton : -

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The Australian June 29, 2010 12:00AM - BLOOMBERG

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/challenger-financial-services-to-fill-gap/story-e6frg8zx-1225885409988

"
CHALLENGER Financial Services plans to lend as much as $1 billion to Australian commercial property owners in the next year.

It is seeking to profit as other lenders retreat from the market. . . . . . . .

The nation's commercial real estate market remained weak, with prices down by more than 40 per cent from their early 2008 peak, the Reserve Bank of Australia said last month. Australian banks reportedly plan to force property companies to sell billions of dollars worth of commercial buildings to improve the quality of loans on their books.

The four main Australian lenders - ANZ, NAB, Commonwealth and Westpac - were "overcommitted" to commercial property and some foreign banks had cut their lending, leaving a gap that Challenger was looking to exploit, Mr Sahota said.

There are $2.4bn worth of Australian commercial mortgage notes due this year, according to Fitch Ratings. Last week, Standard & Poor's said it might downgrade commercial mortgage-backed notes sold by Becton Property Group, an Australian developer, as the bonds were due on July 18 and the company did not have a committed source of funding to refinance them.
"