Stay of execution for Lifemark as liquidation vote postponed

Lifemark investors have forced a meeting to decide the fate of the troubled portfolio to be postponed while a potential rescue deal is hammered out.

The porfolio's provisional administrator, KPMG's Zia Hossen, has emailed investors saying the 10 November meeting will be adjourned immediately after being opened, following pressure from bondholders for more time.

Investors faced choosing between voting for a controlled liquidation of the fund, using a $10m loan from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and a 'fire sale' judicial liquidation.

A $150m rescue bid from a US investment bank, known as the Seaport Proposal, was dropped after KPMG revealed the bank's name in a public note to bondholders.

However the email from Hossen suggests talks between KPMG and the US investment bank involved in the Seaport Proposal are back on.

"I have also been made aware, indirectly, that a new proposal may be made relating to the Seaport Loan, which would necessitate a new meeting being called," the email states.

"Depending on whether a new proposal is obtained, new communications will be issued to bondholders, especially in relation to the date of a new meeting."

Keydata founder Stewart Ford, who had brokered the $150m Seaport loan facility, said he expects the bank to be able to complete its due diligence and put a proposal to bondholders by the middle of January next year.

"I have managed to pull the banks back around the table. Postponing the bondholders meeting for eight weeks doesn't make any difference to the portfolio," he said.