Banks appoint receivers to SDIC subsidiaries

Shares in Speymill Deutsche Immobilien Company (SDIC) have been suspended because its debt providers have asked for receivers to be appointed to all of its property subsidiaries. This does not include the recently acquired GOAL property services business. AIM-quoted German property investor SDIC recently paid its former investment manager Speymill €1.03m plus €700,000 in unpaid fees for GOAL. The payment is in the form of a convertible loan note which can be repaid or converted at the option of SDIC. The loan note matures on 31 May 2011. The holding company is solvent and it has been trying to refinance itself. It breached one of its debt servicing cover ratio covenants at the end of March and the interest cover ration in August. There were indications that investors were interested in providing more cash. The main problem is that the securitised package of loans to the subsidiaries "surpassed its amortisation covenant level and is therefore now liable to amortisation payments along with the other packages". SDIC had been talking to NIBC Bank about restructuring its loan facilities. Yesterday, SDIC announced that its net asset value was €116.5m at the end of June 2010 - equivalent to €0.34 a share. That is less than half the figure a year earlier. Net debt was nearly €1.13bn. Jim Mellon was appointed chairman of SDIC on Monday. The shares were suspended at €0.06 each.