On 23 July 2008 Hanover Finance Ltd and United Finance Limited announced that they would be unable to meet their obligations to depositors, and were proposing to put a debt rescheduling proposal to depositors.  At that time the companies owed a total of approximately $980 million to secured creditors and a further $9.4 million to unsecured note holders.   A formal proposal was put to depositors in November 2008 and accepted by the required majority in December.

In November 2009 both companies entered into an agreement to sell their financial assets to Allied Farmers Ltd.   That transaction was completed in December 2009 when depositors agreed to accept equity securities issued by Allied Farmers in exchange for the amounts owed to them by the companies.

After considering a complaints received from the Securities Commission, Allied Farmers and others, the Director determined that an investigation into the affairs of Hanover Finance Ltd may disclose serious or complex fraud.  An investigation under Part I of the Serious Fraud Office Act was commenced on 7 September 2010.

The collection and analysis of evidence in the Hanover Finance case is well advanced and witness interviews continue.

Following the collection of initial further information the Director determined that there was reasonable evidence to believe an offence involving serious or complex fraud may have been completed.  The investigation was accordingly upgraded to a Part II investigation on 18 November 2010.

The SFO is making good progress with its investigation into the affairs of Hanover Finance Ltd. If you have information you would like to discuss with the SFO, please make contact with us via the contact details below.

The case manager for this case is Rebecca Rolls.  If you have questions regarding your personal involvement with this case or information that may assist the investigation, she can be contacted on rebecca.rolls@sfo.govt.nz or 0800 109 800. 

For media enquiries call 027 705 4550