South Canterbury Finance receivers have announced the sale of subsidiary Face Finance to GE Capital. A statement issued by McGrathNicol did not disclose a price, but said the acquisition involved "over $100 million of commercial loan book assets", The National Business Review reported. At the time of receivership South Canterbury had advanced $196.84 million to Face. A purchase price was not disclosed, but according to the receivers first report Face had a loan book totalling $205.4 million, with $8.5 million impairments.

The Norman family are said to be close to clinching a deal to buy the Whitcoulls bookstore chain but have had to rethink part of the sales agreement. Whitcoulls, owned by REDgroup Retail, was put into voluntary administration in February and in March was being marketed for sale. BusinessDay understands the deal was close to being wrapped up but may stall over possibly one or more conditions. Sydney-based administrator Ferrier Hodgson would not comment on progress.

Credit checking agency Veda Advantage is applauding proposed changes to the Credit Reporting Privacy Code, under which a person's repayment history on credit cards, mortgage payments, and other types of credit could be included in credit reports, The National Business Review reported. Only externally regulated credit providers including banks, telcos, utilities and registered insurers would have access to the data.

Jean Jones' receiver says a sale of the national women's clothing chain could be finalised within days, BusinessDay reported. The company, which has 10 stores throughout the country, down from a peak of 20, was placed in receivership last October owing creditors about $2.9 million. Receiver Murray Frost said a conditional deal for the sale of the company had been reached and an unconditional agreement was expected within days. Mr Frost said he had been negotiating with the party for about three months. Initially about eight prospective buyers had expressed interest in the chain.

Beleaguered Bridgecorp investors could soon get their first distribution from the failed property lender's receivers, nearly four years after the company collapsed, The New Zealand Herald reported. PricewaterhouseCoopers partner and Bridgecorp receiver Colin McCloy said the receivers hoped to shortly resolve the Inland Revenue Department's claims and would then be in a position to make a distribution to Bridgecorp's more than 14,000 secured debenture holders.

Prime Minister John Key this morning confirmed his Government will reduce KiwiSaver's Member Tax credit - the 2 per cent subsidy the Government pays to savers in the scheme - in a move to make it more affordable, The New Zealand Herald reported. Individuals and employers would be expected to make up the difference, he said in a pre-budget speech in Wellington today. Mr Key acted to clarify his Government's intentions toward the scheme after days of hints of changes to the scheme and Working For Families to come in next week's Budget.

Allied Farmers, which has been reduced to a 'penny-dreadful' stock after putting too high a value on loans acquired from Hanover Finance, has completed the sale of property at Clearwater, near Christchurch, and will use the proceeds to repay debt, The New Zealand Herald reported. The property was among assets acquired from Hanover in December 2009 in a disastrous debt-for-equity swap. The loans have lost more than three-quarters of their $400 million value at the time of the deal, which left Allied shareholders with some 2 billion of near-worthless shares.

Investors in failed lender Strategic Finance are facing a smaller return with the receiver cutting 9 cents in the dollar from the top end of the prospective recovery range, The New Zealand Herald reported. Receiver John Fisk, of PricewaterhouseCoopers, expects a return of between 12 per cent and 26 per cent of the principal owed to debenture holders, down from the 12 per cent to 35 per cent range previously flagged, according to a letter to investors on April 29.

Troubled property investment company Irongate has asked trustee Perpetual to call in the receivers after failing to secure a deal to raise the $50 million it needs to pay out retail bondholders this month, BusinessDay.co.nz reported. Formerly called St Laurence Property & Finance, Irongate has been selling properties and seeking an equity injection to remedy a continuing breach of its two trust deed ratios and enable it to meet the listed bonds repayment.

The percentage of New Zealand's $168.2 billion worth of mortgages on floating, or variable, interest rates has popped up above half for the first time since the Reserve Bank started collecting the data on floating versus fixed-term rates in June 1998, The New Zealand Herald reported. Figures out from the central bank show $84.6 billion, or 50.29 per cent, worth of mortgages on floating interest rates and $83 billion, or 49.34 per cent, on fixed-term interest rates. A small sum is recorded as unallocated.