An online secondary market going live today will offer a way for unit holders to sell part or all of their stake in funds frozen under the financial crisis.
With more than $2 billion frozen, investors will be able to pool units and offer them to institutional buyers through trademyunits.co.nz -- set up by Auckland-based entrepreneurs Martin Cleland-Pottie and Asher Hastings, The New Zealand Herald reported.
"We have tried to develop a solution that is sensitive to the situation of many unit holders, providing those with an urgent need for liquidity with the option to sell at what will hopefully be a small discount to the original investment value," Mr Hastings said.
Sellers register by entering the details of their units, how many units they would like to sell, their bank account details and a minimum price they would sell their investment for on the website.
Transfer documents are then sent out to be signed by the seller who can view the details online.
The units of investors in the same funds are then pooled together to try to sell them to institutional investors.
Mr Cleland-Pottie and Mr Hastings' company Phoenix Capital Management will manage the sale and take up to 2 percent of the sale value as commission.
The platform received a mixed response from fund managers and other industry commentators, with concerns it may force desperate sellers into taking a big loss on their capital investment.
