The 120 million non-voting preference shares, which trade on the NZX debt market, were issued at $1 in December 2006 and during the past year have traded at a 63c high and down to 23.
On Monday, two small trades totalling 14,000 shares were made, dragging the price down from 50c to around 30c, with sellers yesterday offering the shares at 50c and buyers offering 32-34c per share.
South Canterbury - which holds more than $4 billion worth of loans on its books - is in the middle of a massive restructuring and recapitalisation project, including the likelihood of parent Southbury Group listing this year.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said while the volume of shares traded on Monday was "very small", and some weeks shares were not traded at all, it indicated investors were "pensive" while waiting to hear more details on South Canterbury's plan for financial underpinning and restructuring.
"There is some investor trepidation out there as to the extent of the [recently forecast, but unspecified] loss . . .
"It may well be more than analysts in the market were expecting," he said.
Should parent Southbury Group look to list this year, Mr McIntyre said preference share holders could possibly be offered an equity swap, or ability to participate in any initial public offering.
Last week, South Canterbury chief executive Sandy Maier told the market it would soon report an unspecified trading loss for the six months to December due to a revaluation of "certain items" and an investment in South Island Farm Holdings Ltd, but it otherwise remained cash positive. In mid-January, Southbury Corporation, which, directly or through subsidiaries, owns 100% of the ordinary shares of South Canterbury Finance and Helicopters (NZ) Ltd and 79.7% of Scales Corporation, completed its first of two capital raisings with $27.5 million gained from a private placement of convertible notes.
Southern brokerage Forsyth Barr is handling the fund-raising for South Canterbury and last week chief executive Sandy Maier said Forsyth Barr was mandated to raise further funding to strengthen its balance sheet, but released no further details.
