Investors warned not to publicly air grievances

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SPI Capital is discouraging any public action from its Gloucester Syndicate investors as its annual report shows a $1 million loan made without investor knowledge has not been repaid.

Tuesday, December 21st 2010, 6:59AM 3 Comments

by Jenha White

Managing director Murray Alcock also implies in a letter to investors that the public action they took in March about the issue has since affected its ability to repay the loan as its warnings then about publicly held debate were not heeded.

The loan of $1.08 million was made to another company owned by some of the SPI shareholders called Treble Investments.

The loan resulted in a meeting in March to give investors the opportunity to oust SPI Capital as the Gloucester Syndicate manager, however it survived the vote.

Alcock acknowledges that during the public meetings in March clear statements were made about the repayment of the debt.

The first was a reduction of $200,000 off the principal debt by March 31, 2010. The balance was to be paid by way of the sales of assets and the promotion of new investment products by the Manager, both of which realise cash which could be applied to debt reduction.

The latest annual report received in October however, shows the loan is recorded at $993,000 which is only $87,000 below the original advances of $1.08 million.

Four accountants in the syndicate: Bill Cooney, Scott White, Robert Gale and Clifford Jones have worked together to look over the annual accounts and have written a letter to investors in the group drawing attention to 13 concerns arising from the accounts.

The letter says "despite numerous assurances from SPI that they would resolve the situation there has been no real change over the past year".

In a letter of response Alcock says SPI Capital was clear about its ability to repay the debt, saying it was contingent upon selling assets in a very difficult time.

"We also clearly warned at that time that an open website and publicly held debate attacking the company would result in a possible inability for us to function, repay debt and have widespread effect over all of our syndicate operations."

He also warns that a publicly aired and aggressive campaign against the manager now will destroy its credibility over a wide range of areas from banking and tenant relationships.

"SPI Capital has partially recovered from the events of earlier this year but has been damaged by those events.

"We have been unable to raise new investor capital and this has severely curtailed our ability to repay the debt."

Alcock says another public campaign could compound the damage of the brand and will likely be detrimental to SPI Capital and investors.

He asks that the investors open website be closed and that investors make direct contact with SPI Capital to ask any questions and if unsatisfied to take the matter through the arbitration and mediation process.

Investor and accountant Cliff Jones says the letter to investors is a white wash as Alcock does not disprove or challenge the 13 concerns raised, but talks around them or gives background.

He says investors are waiting until the New Year to decide how to approach the issue.

Jenha is a TPL staff reporter. jenha@tarawera.co.nz

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