Millionaire Geoff Lord’s margin loan trouble engulfs small listed companies

Veteran investor and former Elders executive Geoff Lord has been caught up in the collapse of Chimeara Capital’s margin loan business, Primebroker Securities.

Veteran investor and former Elders executive Geoff Lord has been caught up in the collapse of Chimeara Capital’s margin loan business, Primebroker Securities.

It emerged yesterday that Lord had used stakes in technology company UXC and pharmaceutical industry supplier IDT Australia to secure margin loans with Primebroker.

Lord is executive chairman of UXC and a director of IDT.

UXC told the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday that the ownership of 11.3 million shares held by two companies associated with Lord, Belgravia Strategic Equities and Keygrowth Pty Ltd, worth $10.2 million, was in dispute.

IDT told the ASX that 3.5 million shares (about 8% of the company’s stock) belonging to Belgravia and Keygrowth was affected by Lord’s margin loan arrangements.

Lord was unavailable for comment this morning, but it appears he is trying to recover his shares. UXC said in its statement that “any right of control held by a third party, including that of the receivers, is currently being disputed by the related parties (Belgravia and Keygrowth)”.

IDT’s stock plunged 13.5% yesterday to a 12-month low of $1.60 but have risen 3% this morning. UXC’s shares touched a 12-month low during trade yesterday but eventually finished up 0.5c at 90c but have fallen 2.2% to 88c this morning.

Lord’s Belgravia Group has a range of business interests, including stakes in a number of small private companies, investments in a number of listed companies. The group also has a property development and investment division and owns a stake in the Melbourne Victory soccer club that competes in the A-League.

Lord was listed on the BRW Rich 200 in 2005 with a fortune of $115 million.

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