Liquidator Sees 10 to 20 Percent Payout to HIH Creditors

KPMG’s Tony McGrath, the liquidator in charge of marshalling the assets of Australia’s failed HIH Insurance Ltd., indicated that the company’s creditors may eventually get between 10 and 20 Australian cents (between 6.2 and 12.4 U.S. cents) on the dollar, but they may have to wait up to seven years for it.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that McGrath gave those estimates in an interview on Australian television. He said that around A$900 million (U.S. $558.5 million) HIH assets had been sold so far, but that recovering additional amounts would be a lengthy process.

“From here on, the remaining assets we have to collect are far more illiquid, like recoveries we have against third parties and the ultimate collection of the reinsurance asset, which does take many, many years to unravel,” McGrath reportedly indicated.