Records from the Companies Office show that Pero resigned as a director of Mike Pero Real Estate on October 20 and his company MPZ One ended his ownership of the company on November 4.
His company held a 12 percent stake as of June 30, which had already fallen from 24 percent the year before.
In 2018, Pero reduced its stake from 50% to 24% after reaching a settlement agreement with Mike Pero Mortgages following a long-standing legal dispute.
The settlement was reached in the later stages of a High Court case that saw Mike Pero Mortgages attempt to recover $ 2.2 million (or $ 2.4 million with interest), according to Mike Pero s is overpaid.
As part of the deal, Pero has also agreed to play an active role in promoting the group at large until at least 2027.
A spokesperson for the group Mike Pero confirmed that Pero is still working with the company as a brand ambassador and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The change in ownership will likely be part of a reorganization of the business before the IPO.
Meanwhile, Mike Pero Mortgages looks set to return to public ownership thanks to the listing of his parent company, Liberty Financial, on the ASX.
Mike Pero Mortgages was delisted from NZX in 2006 after a takeover by a joint venture owned by
New Zealand Finance Holdings and Liberty – an Australian lender.
The repurchase was made at $ 1.10 per share. Fourteen years later, Liberty now owns 100% of Mike Pero Group, which includes its mortgage, insurance, financial and real estate businesses.
According to Australian media reports, Liberty is planning to launch an initial public offering that would value the company at A $ 1.8 billion.
According to the Australian Financial Review, it is expected to raise A $ 363 million on an IPO at a price of 11 times the lender’s expected after-tax net profit, with new investors owning 20% of the listed company.
Liberty was founded by Sherman Ma, now based in the United States, in 1997, after working at Credit Suisse and McKinsey & Company. He remains Executive Director, the Managing Director being James Boyle.
The Australian said Liberty’s net cash profit in 2020-2021 is expected to be between A $ 160 million and A $ 170 million.
Its activities in New Zealand are only a small part of this.
The Mike Pero group’s financial accounts show it made an after-tax profit of $ 6.533 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, compared to $ 8.936 million.
Its operating revenue increased from $ 59.4 million to $ 65.6 million, but its expenses also increased from $ 49 million to $ 57 million, after an increase in financial costs largely due to at higher fees and commissions.
Its provisions for impairment also fell from $ 1.7 million to $ 2.48 million over the year.
Analysts are required to take a close look at impairment provisions across the company to see how it fared under Covid-19.
