Lift Capital provided financial services, mostly in the form of margin loans to retail clients or through financial advisory platforms.
Lift clients mortgaged their securities for a margin loan, Lift then delivered those securities to its secured creditor for funding. Following a significant share market downturn, Lift was unable to meet its covenants to Lenders and was placed into Administration in May 2008.
The Administrators:
- Took control of $1 billion in listed securities, derivatives and funds managed by Lift Capital;
- Undertook an intensive reconciliation process to clarify, where possible, beneficial ownership to underlying securities;
- Following a sale process, delivered proceeds to client margin lending accounts;
- Intensive consultation with a Committee of Creditors and Committee of Inspection;
- Advanced claims against the secured creditor, then undertook a mediation to settle those claims to enable improved returns to creditors;
- Processed those claims and distributed proceeds through a Scheme of Arrangement process.
Ultimately, creditors received 73 cents in the dollar on the underlying equity in their portfolios.