Mystery cash good for SCF

South Canterbury Finance is set to get a new injection of capital, but chairman Allan Hubbard is keeping the source of the new money under wraps.

The Timaru accountant said in spite of what some media commentators have said, SCF was well on the road to recovery.

SCF has 40,000 investors around the country with $1.4 billion tied up in it. Last week Mr Hubbard invested $152 million of his family fortune in the finance company, but still more is needed. He said the recovery would take time.

"There's an enormous amount of time wasted, but you can't change things quickly and you can't raise big chunks of money quickly. You don't just go down to the corner store and say, `give me another million'."

On Wednesday, Standard & Poor's downgraded SCF's credit rating, from BB+ to BB, and placed its long-term rating on CreditWatch with negative implications, which means it has ongoing concerns.

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