Few assets left to fill Christmas stockings

CHRISTMAS CAME as usual for the former clients of the Money Managers investment advisory firm with the lodging of financial statements on the Companies Office register.

Trustee Calibre Asset Management, which was initially set up by parties related to the First Step investments, traditionally posts First Step loss updates on the register in the days before Christmas, with this year’s landing on Christmas Eve.

They show that following a deal the trustee struck with Structured Finance – a failed finance company with links to the men who founded Calibre and First Steps – there is just $2 million of assets remaining in the six First Step trusts – the Secured Mortgage Trust, the Traditional Mortgage Trust, First Up Number 1 Trust, First Up Number 2 Trust, Escalator Trust and Premium Performance Trust.

When First Step was closed,

Following a deal the trustee struck with Structured Finance . . . there is just $2m of assets remaining in the six First Step trusts.

there was around $457m owed to investors who had been advised to put their money in by franchise-holding advisers under the Money Managers’ organisation.

The Money Managers Action Group, which tracks the fortunes of the failed and frozen investments of Money Managers, says that as at July 26, after the balance date for the financial statements posted on the Companies Office, investors had received $266.5m of their money back.

But write-downs in the loans that First Step made on property and to businesses, including a disastrous loan to related party used car financier Club Finance, has seen most of the rest lost.

Money Managers no longer exists following the failure of a large number of often relatedparty investments it promoted including Orange Finance, Orange Insurance, the Totara Mortgage fund, the LM First Mortgage Income fund, First Step and Structured Finance.