Octaviar Limited (formerly MFS Limited) is an Australian diversified investment company in the funds management and financial services sectors. The company, once valued at $2.4 billion was forced to sell its main asset, the Stella Group, in February 2008 and in March 2008 the value of the company had fallen to just $480 million. As of August 1, 2009 the company is in

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

. The company was delisted from the

Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...

on 31 August 2009 after failing to pay listing fees.

History

* 1999: McLaughlins Financial Services Limited, founded by Michael King, receives

ASIC An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...

AFSL 227010 * June, 2000: Acquires Noosa Junction Shopping Centre * November, 2000: Launches MFS Premium Income Fund * July, 2001: Acquires MFS Leveraged Investment and Securities Trust * 2002: MFS subsidiary, McLaughlins Financial Services Limited acquires over A$250 million of real estate assets * 2003: MFS subsidiary, McLaughlins Financial Services Limited, acquires property at Queen Street, Melbourne and retail premises of

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...

at the intersection of Collins and Russell Streets. * March, 2004: MFS subsidiary, McLaughlins Financial Services Limited, acquires a number of homemaker centres in Queensland and New South Wales. * May, 2004: Acquires the AAE group of companies, which owns and operates the Victorian ski field businesses at Mount Hotham and Falls Creek * September, 2004: Acquired approximately 18.5% of the ASX listed BreakFree Limited. * October, 2004: MFS Premium Income Fund was sized at approximately $440 million * January, 2005: Re-lists a restructured MFS group on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and announces merger with BreakFree Limited. * February, 2005: reaches 50.1% interest in BreakFree Limited * March 2005: acquire luxury accommodation group Peppers Leisure Limited and the Sheraton Mirage Resorts located on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

and

Port Douglas Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the , Port Douglas had a population of 3,504 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the in ...

. * April 2005: BreakFree expands into Queenstown * May 2005: Completed BreakFree Limited merger * June 2005: HFA Asset Management announces the closure of its HFA Octane Fund Series Two which attracted over $90 million in investments. * July 2005: MFS wins the 2005 Hotel Investor of the Year Award for the Sheraton Mirage Resorts * September 2005: MFS subsidiary, McLaughlins Financial Services Limited is appointed the Responsible Entity for the PH Sydney Hotel Trust and the Challenger Howard Property Trust. The major asset of the Trusts is the

Park Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

Hotel on

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

. * October 2005: MFS launches a golf industry investment fund in conjunction with its title sponsorship of the 2005 MFS Australian Open. * February 2006: The MFS Living and Leisure Trust (MPY) announced that it has acquired the Melbourne-based Oceanis Group, the world’s largest aquarium owner and operator. * January 2008: A proposal to the market is announced whereby MFS' financial services and tourism arms are to be split. This proposal is not well received by the market, following which the company's share price falls significantly, its shares are temporarily suspended from the ASX and the CEO resigns. * April 2008: The head company, MFS Ltd, is renamed Octaviar Limited. * August 2008: The MFS Living and Leisure Trust (MPY) now called Living and Leisure Australia (asx: LLA) was recapitalised and refinanced under a $236m rescue deal put together by

Charbel Nader Charbel Nader is an Australian investment banker who was the architect of a number of innovative Film Financing transactions in the 1990s the most notable being a series of Village Roadshow off balance sheet film financings which funded Films suc ...

of Pitt capital Partners and involving the

James Packer James Douglas Packer (born 8 September 1967) is an Australian billionaire businessman and investor. Packer is the son of Kerry Packer , a media mogul, and his wife, Roslyn Packer . He is the grandson of Sir Frank Packer. He inherited control o ...

controlled Arctic Capital. * September 2008: After a proposal to major creditors fails to get acceptance the Directors appoint voluntary administrators to the group with the aim of trying to reach an accommodation with the majority of creditors through a Deed of Company Arrangement. * August, 2009: Octaviar Limited is placed in

. * November, 2009: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission commences an action against former directors for misappropriating $130 million allegedly sourced from the Premium Income Fund of which MFS Investment Management Limited was the responsible entity.

Assets

MFS owns:Company profile
retrieved May 2, 2006 * MFS Funds Management Group * Structured Finance Solutions * HFA Funds Management Group MFS manages: * MFS Diversified Group now GEO Property Group * MFS Living & Leisure Group now Living & Leisure Australia

References

{{reflist Defunct investment companies of Australia Companies based on the Gold Coast, Queensland 1999 establishments in Australia Financial services companies established in 1999