Take care Blocky. Unfortunately you can no longer buy Heartland Bank directly. You have to buy something called 'Heartland Group Holdings' (HGH) which owns Heartland Bank. And the reason for the creation of HGH? because the Australian Reverse Mortgage portfolio was going to become a problem for the NZ banking regulators, and so Heartland decided to place these loans outside the of their banking group structure.
The situation is that Reverse Mortgages over a period of 6-8 years are funded by banking arrangements in Australia and directly issued Heartland Australian bonds on 1-3 year terms. IOW there is a mismatch in the timing of funding and providing loans. This isn't a problem provided funding continues to be available and confidence in 'Seniors Australia' remains high. But confidences can change. And HGH could potentially be left in a very difficult position. Heartland management are not fools and I suspect that steps are underway behind the scenes to correct this mismatch. Yet while the mismatch exists such investments are not in any way risk free. It was a similar mismatch of funding and maturity that precipitated the demise of the once highly respected South Canterbury Finance (SCF) a decade ago. Not saying HGH will following the SCF path. But you have to be awake to that possibility when you invest in HGH.
It looks to me like HGH is currently 'priced to perfection', with nothing able to go wrong. I will leave it to you if you think that provides a good entry point.
SNOOPY
discl: a slightly nervous HGH holder
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