The Government isn’t ruling out selling off South Canterbury Finance to foreign investors, as attention turns to the future of the finance company’s assets.

Prime Minister John Key says a number of parties approached the company about a sale before it was placed in receivership, and interest in some of its high-performing assets is high.

Waikato University chairman of finance Stuart Locke says the sale process may take some time however, as the fallout from the controversial Hanover Finance – Allied Farmers deal will have prospective buyers cautious.

“I think it’s in much better shape than Hanover, which Allied Farmers took on, so any purchaser would - in light of the Allied experience of buying the Hanover book - want to do a very careful due diligence over it."

Professor Locke says the good result from this week’s Fonterra globalDairyTrade auction will be welcome news for South Canterbury Finance’s farmer debtors.

 The dairy auction price jumping [up], I think is good news, when you look at a lot of that South Canterbury Finance went into dairy conversions.

"Farmers will just be hoping those prices hold up.”

The Government is stressing it is not the owner of South Canterbury Finance, but what Finance Minister Bill English calls ‘a very close advisor’ of the receiver.