Duncan Saville's reported $1.3 billion offer for South Canterbury Finance, timed to coincide with its receivership on August 31, appears to have been rejected after Treasury received advice that the deal was not necessarily the best one it could get, documents released yesterday suggest.
The documents posted on Treasury's website also raised questions around the collateral put up by the would-be buyer, Mr Saville's Permanent Investments Ltd.
A memo dated September 1 from adviser KordaMentha to manager of the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme John Park reports on the key risks of an offer for South Canterbury Finance that appears to have been tabled at the time of South Canterbury's receivership.
It is understood the offer was from Permanent and was worth $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion.
Without naming the bidder, KordaMentha says the offer was an amended version of one received as a result of a recapitalisation process conducted over several months by investment bank Forsyth Barr.
However, it also notes the amended offer relies on additional financial support for the company provided by the Crown in the form of its $1.7 billion payout to investors following the receivership.
That included $1.6 billion under the retail deposit guarantee scheme.
KordaMentha says other parties may have submitted offers under the same set of conditions.
"Accordingly, there can be no certainty that [the] offer is the best offer that could be obtained but it would be possible to find that out if a process were undertaken by Forsyth Barr or South Canterbury's receivers."
