Lewis Securities in liquidation

Specialist fixed interest manager Lewis Securities has been put into liquida tion after revealing debts of $31.3 million.

The company entered into administration last October and in Sydney last week credi tors voted to liquidate the com pany, Jirsch Sutherland senior partner Rod Sutherland told Money Management.

“We will now be liaising with the creditors on the best method of disposing of the assets,” he said.

“All investors in the manag er will receive a return depend ing on what can be realised from these assets.”

The assets consist of tradi tional fixed interest investments such as Australian Securities Exchange-listed debt, and cor porate and government bonds.

Lewis had launched two high yield fixed interest funds that performed poorly in the current market. Sutherland said certain assets in these funds were held in a trust account.

A total of five Lewis com panies will be liquidated: Lewis Securities, LSL Holdings, Fixed Interest, Vimow and Interest Investments.

According to Sutherland, Lewis Securities has liabili ties of $14.6 million and unsecured creditors will receive a dividend of between 34 to 77 cents in the dollar.

LSL Holdings had liabilities of $9.8 million and creditors will receive between 28 and 34 cents in the dollar.

Fixed Interest had liabili ties of $1.9 million and cred itors will receive between 14 to 19 cents in the dollar, while Vimow had debts of $1.2 million and unsecured creditors can expect a pay ment of between 17 to 29 cents in the dollar.

Finally, Interest Investments has liabilities of $3.6 million and unsecured creditors will receive a return of between 19 to 63 cents in the dollar.

Sutherland said assets will be sold during the next couple of years to obtain the best return for creditors.

“All investors will receive a return but it will depend on how the market recov ers,” he said.

Lewis Securities was found ed in 1985 by Tony Lewis and AM founder David Smith, with the former owning 60 per cent of the business and the lat ter the remaining share. Lewis bought Smith’s stake in 1999 and remained the sole share holder until the group’s demise last year.

The company held an Aus tralian Financial Services Licence and, along with serv icing retail clients, offered a fixed interest investment serv ice to financial planners and stockbrokers.