Diversify, diversify

National | Showdown looms over investment collapse that threatens to harm CRC agencies and Calvin College | Edward E. Plowman

Key players in a $150 million financial failure affecting investments of agencies and members of the 279,000-member Christian Reformed Church were headed for a showdown this month. A CRC-headed creditors' committee warned IRM Corp., a real-estate investment operation based in Concord, Calif., and run by prominent CRC members, it must find a white knight with a suitable buyout offer. Otherwise, the committee said, it would press for immediate action in a lawsuit it filed last month asking that a receiver be appointed to oversee IRM and find a buyer.

It all started with an announcement by IRM last October stating it no longer could pay its debts and was halting payments to investors. Numbered among the 1,537 corporate and individual investors were many CRC members and several denominational entities that stand to lose millions of dollars.