The Treasury estimates the receivership of South Canterbury Finance could take up to four years to complete, unless sold as a going concern, with the majority of assets being sold only in the second year of receivership, The National Business Review reported. The estimates are given in a report dated September 1 – at the same time as other documents revealed the government’s reasons for rejecting a post receivership offer to buy SCF as a going concern. That offer reportedly came from investor Duncan Saville and was understood to be worth approximately $1.3 billion.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has nearly reached on the brink of bankruptcy due to end of credit limit from Ministry of Finance (MoF) while several government departments also owe billion of rupees to the national entity, the Daily Times reported. The sources in MoF said Thursday that credit line for TCP of Rs 110 billion has been utilised and tenders for soft commodities are also sitting in cold storage. He said the governments of four provinces, besides Azad Kashmir administration and departments of Northern Areas are also defaulters of TCP for more than Rs 33 billion.

Acom Co. and Promise Co. said they’ve seen an increase in customer inquiries about repayments of overcharged interest since rival consumer lender Takefuji Corp. sought bankruptcy protection two weeks ago, Bloomberg reported. Masahito Osawa, a spokesman for Acom, and Promise’s Risa Matsumura said more clients are asking about refunds for overcharged interest since Takefuji’s collapse, without providing estimates for the potential cost. Takefuji’s Sept.

Labour finance spokesman David Cunliffe says decisions made to reject bids for South Canterbury Finance (SCF) means the cost to taxpayers has been between $300 million and $500 million too much, The New Zealand Herald reported. SCF went into receivership at the end of August, leading to a $1.7 billion government payout to investors, of which $1.6 billion was under the retail deposit guarantee scheme.

The Gillard government has warned banks it's too early to start foreclosing on loans to irrigation farmers in the Murray-Darling Basin, The Australian reported. A report by an independent banking consultant Adrian Rizza warns banks fear at least eight irrigation town may not survive cuts in water allocations to farmers, and that some banks have already started taking action to address their loan exposure in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Sam Coco is ready to step in to save the fruit store chain he founded after it was placed into voluntary administration last week, GoldCoast.com.au reported. The veteran retailer, who sold the Cocos business seven years ago, said he was prepared to roll up his sleeves and reopen at least the two stores that anchor his own shopping centres at Carrara on the Gold Coast and Annerley in Brisbane. The veteran fruiterer, who built a chain of 10 stores from humble beginnings in 1990, sold the business in 2003 to former Bi-Lo founder and millionaire retailer David Weeks.

Speculation is mounting about whether Victorian-based Bendigo Mining will push the northern Tasmanian mine into receivership, ABC News reported. BCD Resources, formerly Beaconsfield Gold, and Bendigo Mining were poised to merge in November with Bendigo lending BCD $5 million. Bendigo now says that BCD has breached the agreement. Unless it can repay the money by tomorrow, Bendigo may move to recover the money from the Beaconfsfield mine, the merger will be off and receivership could be on the cards. Neither company has released information explaining the breaches.

Takefuji Corp., once the symbol of the era of rapid growth in consumer finance, filed for bankruptcy protection in late September under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, Asahi.com reported in an editorial. Takefuji's failure is not the simple saga of the demise of a single company. It poses a big question to the entire consumer credit industry: How can the sector push through the reforms needed to carve out a viable future for itself? Takefuji collapsed under the crippling burden of refunding borrower claims of overpaid interest.

Shinsei Bank is expected to become the financial adviser for the search of an investor for failed consumer lender Takefuji Corp, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported. Takefuji last month filed for bankruptcy owing about $5 billion, making it the biggest Japanese consumer lender to fail since a court ruling in 2006 forced the industry to repay borrowers for excessive interest charges. Shinsei Bank's appointment will become official pending court approval, one of the people said. Read more.

Two wealthy investors have handed Adelaide carbon management firm Carbon Planet a $250,000 lifeline to move the company out of voluntary administration, AdelaideNow.com.au reported. Carbon Planet mangement took control of the company back from Korda Mentha today after creditors unanimously agreed for the company to continue operating under a Deed of Company Arrangement. He said the company had reduced its cash burn rate to $140,000 a month as it moved from creating to deploying its intellectual property.