Rams Faces Further Losses If Debt Not Paid
The Age
Wednesday February 27, 2008
THE former owner of RAMS has warned its shareholders that the home loans business could incur further losses if it fails to refinance or defaults on the debt lifelines that replaced $5.5 billion of short-term loans that nearly brought down the group.
RHG is facing a series of deadlines over the next nine months, during which it hopes to roll over $8.6 billion of yearly loans that underpin its remaining mortgage business. It will also have to decide whether to repay about $1.93 billion of mortgage-backed securities between April and October. These were previously sourced from credit markets, whose soaring borrowing costs last year forced RHG to sell the RAMS brand to Westpac for $140 million to avoid collapse. The company's directors - headed by chairman John Kinghorn, who made $650 million in RHG's float in July - indicated they were hopeful that the various facilities would remain in place when they matured. But they said "uncertainty remained", given the volatility in the global finance sector. Its shares slipped 0.5? to 22? yesterday. -- DANNY JOHN
© 2008 The Age