Weekly briefs

Independence decision, Commission limbers up, Westgate offering, Money Managers offers free entry.

Monday, February 2nd 1998, 12:00AM

Independence decision
The Advertising Standards Complaints Appeal Board has released its decision on Money Managers' use of the word independence.
The board upheld an earlier decision which said Money Managers was unable to describe itself as independent, however the appeal board has backed down on implementing that earlier decision.
A full report on the decision was published on Good Returns on December 18.
Click here to read the story.

Commission limbers up

The Securities Commission is renewing its earlier threat to use its statutory powers to stop advertisements and to cancel prospectuses in the forestry and syndicated property sectors.
Chairman Euan Abernethy says the commission is concerned about some of the statements being made by promoters about various investments.
Recent cases brought to the commission's attention include:

A commercial property unit trust scheme where a high proportion of capital repayment was included in the advertised percentage return on investment
An advertisement for a forestry syndicate which gave the impression investors would receive an annual return on investment, when in fact the only return came at the end of the scheme
Advertising returns as being tax free on the basis of favourable Inland Revenue Department opinion for a similar scheme when the prospectus disclosed it was not sure the ruling would apply to the advertised scheme.

Westgate three
The three financial planning firms involved in the Aegis master trust system are also marketing the $46.5 million Westgate power centre property development in West Auckland.
Reeves Moses, Northplan and Broadbase are marketing the offer which seeks to raise $15 million through an issue of shares and bonds.
The issue is being underwritten up to $7.5 million and will remain open for six months from the date of registration.

Money Managers offers free entry
Money Managers has launched a special promotion offering free entry into all investment products for the month of February.
"Prompting the move is the huge number of New Zealanders who are invested in unit trusts, who no longer receive adequate advice," marketing director Alasdair Scott says.
"There are thousands of investors out there who have no adviser and receive no professional investment advice. These people have no idea whether or not their investments are still appropriate for them. In many cases they are not. There's no reason why they should have to pay another entry fee," managing director Doug Somers-Edgar says.

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