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Corporate Recovery |
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Recent assignments
These are just some of the recent assignments we have undertaken. They provide a flavour of our work and how we do it.
Cross-jurisdictional and industry specific
As court-appointed receivers over cargoes and receivables of Metro Trading International Inc, a Middle East-based oil trader with an asset value of US$75m, we encountered many complex cross-jurisdictional and industry specific matters and drew on our shipping industry expertise. Our London-based experts made full use of the extensive Moore Stephens International network, working with the Moore Stephens International member firms in Oman, Greece and Hong Kong to address issues in the United Arab Emirates, the Far East, Liberia, France and the UK. We successfully concluded an extended arbitration relating to US$20m owing for shipments of oil.
International asset tracing
In 1999, Moore Stephens were appointed administrators to AY Bank Limited, a UK-incorporated Yugoslavian-owned bank, with an £80m loan book, after its assets were frozen by sanctions, as it was deemed by the US and the EC to be connected with the Milosevic regime.
Our appointment continues today, but, as rescue proved impossible, we were appointed liquidators in 2003. We are actively tracing and realising worldwide assets in multiple jurisdictions and so far have paid dividends of 90p in the £1.
Media success
Moore Stephens achieved a great outcome following our appointment as administrators of AIM-listed, UK-based marketing services business, NWD Group. The group comprised a number of different agencies providing design, marketing and other related services. The majority of the agencies were sold as going concerns without any job losses. For the final agency, the Moore Stephens' team achieved an asset sale, where the purchaser was also potentially looking to recruit a number of former employees. GMAC, the secured creditor, was repaid in full.
Winding down
Moore Stephens is advising the management of former electrical giant Thorn Limited on the winding down of the group following its acquisition by Pension Corporation Investments. Once some final operating companies have been taken out of the group, remaining structures such as leases will be dismantled and Thorn Limited put into Members Voluntary Liquidation.
Retention of title
Moore Stephens is acting as advisers to the major suppliers of music retailer Fopp, which is in receivership. We are assisting creditors and suppliers in connection with any bad debts they have incurred and advising on retention of title issues in conjunction with lawyers.
Cross-channel assignment
Moore Stephens Bristol and Moore Stephens Jersey teamed up on a cross-channel assignment, as liquidators of APS Mortgages Limited. The company had some interesting and unusual assets, including shares in a racehorse.
Unauthorised investment scheme
Moore Stephens has been handling the liquidation of Rubicon Estates, a landbank investment scheme. Land considered potentially ripe for residential development was acquired by the company, then divided into lots and sold to investors. However, Rubicon was forced to cease trading after the Financial Services Authority determined it was a collective investment scheme and should have been authorised by the FSA.
There are about 800 investors in Rubicon, which has led to a huge volume of claims for compensation.
Military manufacturer
Our Birmingham corporate recovery team came to the rescue of Firmin & Sons, a military button and regalia manufacturer based in the city. The company was founded over 300 years ago and customers have included Lord Nelson and the Queen.
Moore Stephens were appointed administrators after the company was hit by falling turnover, largely due to cutbacks in Ministry of Defence spending, as well as a £2m pension fund deficit. We agreed the sale of the business and have managed to save over 60 jobs.
Scottish estate
Our Glasgow team acted in the liquidation of Barony of Fulwood Estate Limited, situated in the Scottish hills. The estate, which includes Kirclaugh House, was bought in 2000 by Camilo Pereira, a Brazilian-born alleged fraudster.
Pereira, who calls himself Baron after buying the 13th century title, was being pursued by a US prosecutor after a Miami court ruled he should return more than $2m from proceeds of a "pump and dump" share scam. The US Securities and Exchange Commission accused Pereira of artificially inflating the value of his Florida-based company Quest Net Corp by making false claims about big deals. The share price increased by about 1,200% in nine days before Pereira sold 215,000 shares.
In the past, Pereira has run a hotel in South Africa and served in the Israeli army. In 2001, he was appointed honorary consul for Mozambique in the US because of ties to the African country's former leader.
International market
Examples of the international assignments we have undertaken include:
- financial advisors to an official creditors' committee in Chapter 11 proceedings of a gas transport group, including advising on the committee's reorganisation plan which was confirmed by the court;
- receivers appointed by the High Court in the British Virgin Islands in connection with a dispute over the ownership of a Russian mobile phone network;
- receivers of a Norwegian-owned Boeing 767, financed through institutions in New York and London and leased to a New Zealand-based airline;
- receivers appointed by the English High Court in relation to grain cargoes destined from Thailand and Turkey for delivery to Iraq on board vessels originally from Vietnam, Turkey and Greece;
- solvent winding up of surplus UK subsidiaries of several multinationals.
Services
UK offices
Publications
Glossary of terms |
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