Elderslie Finance faces receivership

The troubled $200 million Elderslie Finance moved a step closer to receivership today after trustee company Perpetual obtained an order from the Federal Court this morning that it could enforce their security. This now gives Perpetual the option to appoin

The troubled $200 million Elderslie Finance moved a step closer to receivership today after trustee company Perpetual obtained an order from the Federal Court this morning that it could enforce their security. This now gives Perpetual the option to appoint a receiver over Elderslie Finance.

Adelaide Bank has already appointed two receivers to some of the assets of the group. It is expected that Perpetual will appoint receivers later today. A source says: “It is unlikely Perpetual would chase the order unless they intended to do something about it.”

The order will come as a blow to former chairman of Elderslie, John Hewson, who according to reports was working on a last ditch rescue package for the troubled group that would involve an immediate equity injection.

Hewson resigned as chairman on 3 June, two days before Perpetual launched action against Elderlsie. Yesterday Elderslie requested a further week’s adjournment to organise a separate bid to inject $15 million into the company – of which $12.6 million would be used to pay creditors other than the debenture holders. The request was rejected.

Another rescue package from former realestate.com.au chief executive Nigel Purves fell through yesterday after he requested more time to do due diligence.

In May, Perpetual appointed investigative accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, who found that Elderslie “was or would become insolvent unless the company was sold and received a significant cash injection to meet its short term liquidity requirements”.

Read more on Elderslie

Elderslie now in receivership. See story.