News Round Up

Bridgecorp gets rating, REL bid not a done deal, Success Forum filing fast, Tower's capital notes offer.

Sunday, June 27th 2004, 9:56PM

Latest performance figures from FundSource show that managed funds posted some good numbers in the past quarter, particularly New Zealand and international shares.

"International equity funds saw solid growth of over 12% in the year to May 31," FundSource says.

"Leading the way again were New Zealand equity funds, with active funds increasing 16% and their passive counterparts growing a creditable 18%." [MORE]

Bridgecorp's trust gets a rating
Rapid Ratings has assigned a provisional ratings to the Bridgecorp Mortgage Trust No2.

It has given the Class A secured notes a B2 rating (the equivalent of S&P BBB) and a C1 rating to Class B secured notes (equivalent of S&P BB

These rating are provisional until the fund is fully invested and Rapid Ratings has confirmed that the investment policy rules have been followed. Check out deposit rates, including term investments here www.depositrates.co.nz

REL bid not a done deal
The takeover of the Rural Equities Ltd, the company with the management contract to the NZ Rural Property Trust, is far from finished despite some announcements last week.

Sir Selwyn Cushing’s company H&G upped its offer for 50.01% of the company to $1.60 last week and says it now has sufficient acceptances. However the takeover requires shareholder approval and it is unknown whether that will eventuate as H&G and its associated companies are unlikely to be able to vote.

St Laurence Group has made a rival bid for REL shares.

Tower’s capital note offering
Tower Finance is making a $65 million capital notes issue with a coupon rate of 8.65%.

The capital notes are unsecured and subordinated debt securities of Tower Finance Limited and mature on October 15, 2009.

Success Forum filling fast
Registrations for this year’s Financial Planners and Insurance Advisers annual conference are coming in quickly and numbers are ahead of where they were at the same time last year.

To book your place as the Success Forum, which is being held at Sky City’s new conference centre in Auckland act now.

Good Returns is pleased to support this year’s Success Forum, which is being held in Auckland from July 21-23.