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Hanover shareholder's director representative, Mark Hotchin - Source: NZPA / Dave Rowland -
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A barrage of tough questions were fired at Hanover Finance
co-owner Mark Hotchin by investors in the failed company at a
meeting in Christchurch on Friday.
Two-hundred turned up to discuss the multi-million dollar takeover
proposal from Allied Farmers, but they also took the chance to tell
the Hanover director exactly what they think of him.
There has been a lot of pain caused for Hanover investors like Janice Mabey.
"It caused a lot of stress, my partner and I separated, he now lives in a caravan," Mabey says.
They had put $200,000 into the troubled finance company.
Hotchin said at the meeting on Friday that he understood what people are going through, but some found that hard to believe.
The seats at the meeting were filled with angry investors and Hotchin was happy to answer their questions, and even to talk to them individually afterwards.
Allied Farmers is working hard to persuade the group to vote for their proposal of a $400 million offer to takeover the finance company's struggling assets.
"We're trying to put the past behind us now and collect these people together for a brighter future," says Rob Alloway from Allied Farmers.
Hotchin defended the company ahead of the votes that may facilitate a debt-to-equity swap with Allied Farmers as an alternative to an existing debt repayment plan.
When asked if they were a bad investment to begin with, he said hindsight is a wonderful thing.
He said the Five Mile development at Queenstown was on some of the best land in the country but trying to sell it currently was difficult.
The company has been criticised for using respected figures in its marketing to portray investing in the company's debt securities as safe.
"It is a different world," Hotchin said of the current operating environment.
"We thought we had a robust company."
He said he and co founder Eric Watson had lost $150 million on Hanover.
"Forty-five finance companies have failed in New Zealand and we were number 26," he said.
Hotchin and Watson have also been criticised for continuing to live extravagant lifestyles while investors, many of whom are elderly, have to wait for their money.
Media coverage has focused on a half finished multi-million dollar property owned by Hotchin on Paratai Drive in Auckland.
"The house at Paratai is obviously an easy place to point. It is frustrating for me. What do I do? You can't leave it unfinished. It is unsafe," he said.
"To say we aren't doing enough, we've done a lot," he said.
A report by Grant Samuel recommends bond holders accept the proposed transaction and raised the possibility that the company could ultimately end in receivership under a continuation of the existing debt repayment plan.
