Credit Corp not for sale

 By SHIRLEY MAULUDU

CREDIT Corporation (Credit Corp) is no longer up for sale, its shareholders decided at a meeting yesterday. 

Chairman Garth McIlwain said in a statement: “The shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting, resolved to reject the offer by Bank South Pacific to purchase the four finance company subsidiaries – Credit Corporation Finance Ltd, Credit Corporation (Fiji) Limited, Credit Corporation (Solomon Islands) Ltd and Credit Corporation (Vanuatu) Ltd – for K250 million.”

Previously, Teacher’s Savings and Loans Society (TISA) board chairman Gabriel Tai said TISA, as the third major shareholder of Credit Corp, would not allow the purchase of Credit Corp to take place.

“The TISA board rejects the recommendation to sell Credit Corp and strongly urges all shareholders to do likewise,” Tai said.

TISA said it did not support the sale for these reasons:

• The board and management had not shown innovations and willingness to turn challenges into opportunities;
• Over the years, Credit Corp had not been assessed for its performance and what was anticipated in the future; and
• The independent expert report (IER) was only focused on assessing the valuation of CCFL and testing the fairness and reasonableness of the BSP offer.

Other shareholders included Nasfund and Nambawan Super Ltd. 

BSP Group chairman Kostas Constantinou yesterday said BSP had initially made a non-binding offer on Dec 13, 2012, indicating its interest to purchase the entities.

“I note with regret the announcement by the chairman of Credit Corporation that the company’s shareholders, at their meeting, decided not to accept BSP’s offer to acquire Credit Corporation’s finance and leasing business,” Constantinou said. 

He said BSP would now look to other strategic initiatives to promote the further growth and development of the bank.