General Finance Limited is a wholly New Zealand owned and operated finance company, located in premises in Ellerslie in Auckland. The Company is engaged in mortgage origination and management, providing a full range of residential mortgage services. These include prime, no-financials, non-conforming, bridging, and second mortgages. No-financials loans are those for which the borrower does not provide full financial information.

General Finance Limited is a subsidiary of Cairns Lockie Holdings Limited. The Cairns Lockie group (a well established mortgage banking operation) had, in aggregate, over $200 million of mortgage assets under management as at 31 March 2010. The Cairns Lockie group has been in business for over ten years. The directors are James Lockie and William Cairns. Full details of their backgrounds and experience are given below. Both Directors hold full time executive positions with the Company. The details regarding the parent company are given for information only, as the Company is the sole member of the Charging Group.

The majority of mortgages under management are financed by wholesale funders, where these financial institutions accept all the risks of interest rates, foreign exchange and collateral and register the security. General Finance is also a mortgage originator, providing mortgage advances through a broker network to the customer. The mortgage advances held in the company name are written over 6 to 60 month periods, with various priority security over property.

The Company commenced trading on 1 April 2001, initially writing and managing prime residential mortgages for an Australasian wholesaler, in competition with New Zealand trading banks. In 2002 the Company widened its product range to include non-conforming residential mortgages placed with another Australasian wholesaler. Non-conforming residential mortgages are those outside normal trading bank criteria. These wholesale suppliers source their funding from the New Zealand and international capital markets.

It became apparent in 2003 that there was a demand in the residential mortgage market for short term accommodations not being satisfied through traditional sources. The Company designed a first and second mortgage product to meet this demand, initially funded from its own resources.

Due to the success experienced for this short term residential mortgage product, the Company, decided, in 2004, that it would fund part of this growth through the issue of debenture stock. General Finance registered its first prospectus for this purpose on 9 November 2004.

The mortgages under management are written for a variety of different purposes, with solutions tailored to the borrowers’ individual requirements. Most of these mortgages are written for terms of less than twelve months. They generally enable borrowers to complete some short term transaction, such as preparing a property for sale or bridging a property acquisition.

A real estate mortgage or a right to a real estate mortgage is taken in all instances as security to support the Company’s lending. Mortgages taken comprise both first and second mortgage securities. Each loan is secured by a registered mortgage or is protected by a registered caveat.

At 31 March 2010, the Company’s finance company gross mortgage book had increased to $3.99 million, from $2.68 million in March 2009.

The Company now operates as an established residential mortgage lender with an emphasis on targeting business from the intermediary market (including mortgage brokers, financial planners and insurance agents). The Company is active in new product development.