Doubts over mortgage fund Angus Securities as loans sour

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1 Doubts over mortgage fund Angus Securities as loans sour THE AUSTRALIAN MARCH 28, :00AM Anthony Klan Journalist Sydney Matthew Hower, Andrew Luckhurst-Smith and Paul McCarthy. Picture: David CroninSource: News Corp Australia The nation s biggest mortgage fund, Angas Securities, has revealed that more than 35 per cent of the loans it has made are in arrears as its auditor

2 warns there is material uncertainty that the company will continue as a going concern. The poor outlook for the group comes as its founder and managing director, Matthew Hower, has listed for sale his 2006 four-berth motor luxury yacht which has been advertised as a highly motivated sale and his bright orange McLaren sports car with a $399,000 price tag. Angas Securities executive chairman Andrew Luckhurst-Smith said Mr Hower s moves to sell those luxury assets were absolutely not related to the health of Angas, that the yacht marketing was advertising puff and that Mr Hower regularly buys and sells luxury cars. The Adelaide-based Angas Securities, which controls across three of its funds a total of $262 million raised from mum and dad investors nationwide, reported a consolidated entity loss of $4.25m for the six months to December and had negative operating cashflow of $3.82m for the half. Angas auditors Deloitte said the company had overall net assets of $5.3m. These conditions along with other matters... indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the consolidated entity s ability to continue as a going concern, Deloitte wrote. Therefore the consolidated entity may be unable to realise its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business. The latest accounts come as the trustee for Angas, whose job it is to protect the interests of - investors, completed an independent review into the group that took two years and four months to complete. Neither Angas or Trustee would provide The Weekend Australian with the outcome of that review. Angas Securities operates by raising money from ordinary investors and lending that money mostly to property developers, typically at higher rates. There has been increased focus on the sector in recent years following a string of high-profile collapses of debenture funds.

3 Of the 49 property-related debenture funds operating in Australia in 2007, 25 have collapsed, taking with them more than $4 billion in investor funds. Among them were Banksia - Securities, Provident Capital, City Pacific, MFS and Gippsland Secured Investments. These is no suggestion of links between Angas and these companies. Angas operates through three funds: its flagship Angas Fixed Interest Securities fund which no longer accepts money from new investors but is by far its biggest and the more recently created Angas Prime Income Fund and the Angas Contributory Mortgage Fund. The group s consolidated accounts, submitted to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission last week, show that as of December 31 the group had $185m of loans outstanding. Of those, $69.16m or 37 per cent by value were non-performing and of those nonperforming loans $52.5m were so far overdue they were no longer earning interest revenue. Of this position Deloitte said: The directors clearly acknowledge that there is an inherent risk in realising these mortgage securities and collateral as the timing and amount of the realisation of the security may not proceed as planned. In response to questions from The Weekend Australian last week, Angas said that since December 31 a number of the non-performing loans had either been refinanced or the secured properties subject to executed sales contracts. It said upon settlement of those transactions a more accurate reflection of nonperforming loans would be $41.5m, which based on a loan book of $185m would equate to 22.4 per cent of the loan book being in arrears. In the meantime, significant progress is being made across the remainder of the nonperforming loans about which the Trustee is kept regularly informed, including by letter dated 20 March, Angas said. Angas declined to provide The Weekend Australian with a copy of that letter. The Angas group holds $223m of investor funds with $185m lent to borrowers, $25m held in cash and $22.5m invested in property.

4 Until Sunday, when advertisements were removed, Mr Hower s three-level, 72-foot 2006 Sunseeker Manhattan luxury yacht Patriot was advertised for sale by Ray White Marine on the Gold Coast as a highly motivated sale. The yacht, which includes four sleeping cabins and boasts granite vanity tops, was auctioned by Ray White Marine on February 26, but no sale was reached. A glossy flyer for that auction states: Only 700 hours on the clock and services in August This will be sold quickly. A titles search on the vessel shows there is a mortgage against it to St George Bank, but the size of that mortgage is not disclosed. In a series of written responses, Mr Luckhurst-Smith said Mr Hower s moves to sell the boat were not in any way connected to Angas Securities. This vessel has been marketed for sale for the simple reason that the Hower family is no longer using it it having been sailed on only three occasions in the past 12 months, Mr Luckhurst-Smith said. There was no urgency to sell the yacht and claims suggesting otherwise were no more than sales puffery. Mr Hower has owned five boats in the past 13 years. It is common for him to buy and sell boats, he said. It was also not unusual for Mr Hower to buy and sell luxury cars, Mr Luckhurst-Smith said, when asked about Mr Hower s 2012 McLaren sports car being offered for sale by an Adelaide dealer for $399,000. Mr Hower is selling his 2012 McLaren after three years of ownership. The sale has no relationship to the performance of Angas Securities, Mr Luckhurst-Smith said. Mr Hower has a longstanding interest in motor cars. He buys and sells select or classic cars every three or so years.

5 The Angas Securities half-year results to December 31 outlined factors affecting the company. Reasons for material uncertainty included further deterioration in the company s net asset position, the continued existence of a core group of non-performing loans and the fact that continued deterioration in financial performance could result in breaches. The directors said they aimed to to accelerate the reduction in non-performing loans by achieving the planned realisation of these loans.