Mark Hotchin
| Mark Stephen Hotchin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 December 1958 |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Occupation | Property developer |
| Known for | Founding finance company Hanover Finance and its high profile demise in 2010 |
| Spouse(s) | Amanda |
| Children | 3 |
Mark Stephen Hotchin (born 25 December 1958) is a New Zealand property developer and financier. He was a director of the Hanover Group which owned a number of finance companies including Hanover Finance, United Finance, Nationwide Finance and FAI Finance. The Hanover Group also had interests in property and was responsible for developing Matarangi Beach Estates and golf course, and acquired completed lots at the Jacks Point property sub-division in Queenstown. The Group also had property and finance interests in Australia.
With Eric Watson he bought 30 per cent of Elders Finance in 1999 and in December that year bought it outright. Elders Finance became the core of what would become Hanover Finance. Two years on, their other finance and investment assets (Nationwide Finance, Leasing Solutions, Elders Home Loans and Hanover Securities) were rolled in to create Hanover Group with reported assets of $650m.
The flow on effects of the financial crisis of 2007–08 and nervous reaction of investors lowered overall confidence in the market and saw over 50 finance companies in New Zealand fail by 2010. Hanover applied to the trustee for a repayment freeze or moratorium rather than a receivership. After the repayment freeze Hanover prepared a debt repayment plan, offering to repay investors over a 5-year period. As part of the plan, Hotchin and Watson pledged $96 million of assets. These assets fell in value as property prices declined.
Hotchin arranged for Allied Farmers to take over the failing business, but the losses overwhelmed the new owner and the business was put into liquidation in 2010. In December 2011 the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) announced that it proposed to file civil proceedings against Hotchin and the other directors and promoters of Hanover.
Mark Hotchin was born in Auckland, and attended Roman Catholic schools, St Joseph's Primary School in Onehunga, Marcellin College and St Paul's College. His father owned a joinery factory, and was also involved with property development. When Mark Hotchin left school he worked in his father's factory. His first business was a sports goods store, which got into financial trouble and was rescued by his father. Hotchin first bought and subdivided a house for profit in 1982 when he was 23 years old. He then did an increasing number of such subdivisions. In the 1990s, he bought Regency Court in the Auckland suburb of Saint Heliers for $6 million, selling it later for $10 million. He bought the successful taxi company Corporate Cabs, expanded it and sold it in 1999 to former Skellerup Group boss Murray Bolton. He bought Matarangi Beach Estates in 1995.
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