Monday, 07 September 2009
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MOMI'S J.W. MARRIOTT 10 cents in the Dollar
NEGOTIATIONS are still going on in an attempt to sell an unfinished Fijian luxury resort more than a week after the property failed to sell at auction.
Bridgecorp investors have sunk $106 million into the 140-hectare Momi Bay resort but appear unlikely to see any return if it is sold.
The resort was put on the block by real estate firm Bayleys at the behest of the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF), which hoped to get back the F$80m (NZ$58.5m) it invested in the development.
The right of FNPF to sell the development was disputed by the original developer Matapo - which was linked to Bridgecorp - and Napier-based Herbert Construction, which did a lot of the construction work. However, their legal efforts to stop the auction failed.
The highest bid was F$41m, which was not enough for FNPF. Bayleys chairman John Bayley indicated at the time that the highest bidder was "somebody that has had an interest in the project for quite a while".
The auction attracted worldwide attention, with about 120 parties registering interest. Bayleys Fiji and South Pacific managing director Philip Toogood said yesterday that his company was still "working with" the highest and second-highest bidders from the auction, along with several other parties looking to make post-auction offers.
The 14,300 secured debenture holders in Bridgecorp have yet to see any of the $460m they collectively invested with the firm, which crashed in July 2007. The receivers have indicated that without any returns from the Momi project, investors would be likely to get back only about 10 cents in the dollar.
Ref: Fairfax New Zealand Limited. 09-05-09 per David Hargreaves
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