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AS many as 6000 investors in collapsed property giant Westpoint Corporation face losing $1 billion, the biggest corporate failure since HIH, with some already forced to sell their homes. Projects involving 3,000 apartments are in various stages of completion, The Daily Telegraph reports. Some have been suspended with nothing to show except a hole in the ground. The Perth-based group, which is controlled by Perth property magnate Norm Carey, began to fall apart a month ago, but the number of people affected and the amount they could lose is only starting to emerge, the newspaper says. Westpoint Corporation, which is also behind the Scots Church redevelopment at York Street in the Sydney CBD, failed to lodge full financial reports last year and that has made it hard to determine the number of victims and the amount they lost. The paper says some victims, mostly middle-income retirees looking for a safe place for their life savings, have had to sell their homes already. There had also been reports of suicides and marriage splits following the collapse. Hundreds of the victims are from Sydney's Chinese community, rocked by the shame of losing money particular to the culture. The main product Westpoint offered investors was mezzanine finance, where people lend money to the company to develop property in return for receiving interest payments. Victims say they first noticed something was amiss when their regular interest payments stopped arriving early last month. A few days later, seven of Westpoint's 14 property funds - considered separate entities under the law - sank into receivership or administration. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has started to wind up the whole group http://www.finance.news.com.au/s ... 34716-31037,00.html [ Last edited by 休 on 2006-1-16 at 08:23 AM ] |
