Queenstown-based Mike Coburn has been appointed senior adviser to SCF's chief executive Sandy Maier, and will be specialising in real estate. Mr Coburn is the former executive director of the multimillion-dollar first stage of the 1200ha Jacks Point lakeside village near Queenstown.
It was property and SCF's lending to developers during the property boom which led to much of SCF's losses of more than $200 million, just barely staving off receivership in early April, had it and its depositors not been included in the Government's extended retail deposit guarantee scheme.
Earlier this year, SCF split its assets into three divisions; a "good bank" to hold secure loans worth about $1 billion, another for private equity investments worth about $400 million, and a "bad bank", holding about $500 million in largely property-related investments, which SCF has been working around the clock to sell.
More than $200 million in loans has been repaid to SCF since January, improving its cash position to about $80 million, and it has secured a total $100 million loan from South Island businessman George Kerr's Torchlight fund.
Mr Coburn was appointed alongside Dean Clark, as SCF's general manager of the "good bank", and Garry Sue will be head of internal audit to establish new enterprise risk management, audit and monitoring systems.
Des Hammond will also become a senior adviser to Mr Maier and is to focus on the investment portfolio, including Helicopters NZ, and SCF's stakes in Scales Corporation, South Island Dairy Farms, Dairy Holdings and other assets.
In late October, Dunedin-linked businessmen Bill Baylis and Stuart McLauchlan were appointed to SCF's board as independent directors, alongside Denham Shale from Auckland, in what was to become an entire replacement of the board, with Mr Baylis later taking over the role of chairman when founder Allan Hubbard stepped aside, to become president for life.
Eight entities of Mr Hubbard's have been placed in statutory management by the Government. Mr Coburn is a director of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, and its subsidiaries including City Forests, City Bus, Aurora Energy and Delta Utility Services.
