Case Studies
Issue No. 31 - October/November 2006
Fixing our interest
Angas Securities is one of the most successful financial institutions you never heard of.
The financial corporation with its head office in Adelaide, one of the stars of our Fast Movers competition, has built up a strong balance sheet through financing commercial property loans.
Angas Securities is not a broker or intermediary — all credit decisions are made internally. The firm has a quality portfolio of loan assets, all of them fully secured over real property assets with a first mortgage.
Angas does not accept second mortgages as a primary security.
"To our investors, we describe Angas Securities as 'the fixed interest specialists'," says executive chairman, Andrew Luckhurst-Smith.
Funds are invested with Angas Securities by a debenture issue and interest is paid monthly to investors at a fixed rate, or the interest can be re-invested and paid to the investor on maturity.
This is clearly a smooth running machine, which Andrew says was set in motion by a legislated opportunity.
"In 1999 the Managed Investment Act was introduced. It regulated a range of financial services businesses," says Andrew.
"One consequence was that small firms had to either withdraw from that line of operation or grow into larger and more sophisticated businesses.
"At that time, I was a Banking and Finance Lawyer working in Adelaide as a Partner in a national law firm. One of my clients was Matthew Hower, who operated a funds management and structured finance business in Adelaide.
"He and I founded Angas Securities with the introduction of Michael Burgess who is a chartered accountant (ex KPMG) and Bob Morton who was a retired banker (ex State Manager of ANZ Bank).
"After operating in Adelaide for two years, Angas Securities took on new equity participants from Western Australia and opened an office in Perth in 2002. This was very good timing in light of the strong Perth economic growth over the las...
