forlanssister 3,114 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Wonder how much of the Arsenal share money we can kiss goodbye too Around 12,000 clients have been warned it is â??highly likelyâ? there will be a shortfall in their share of £24m of Pritchard Stockbrokersâ?? cash assets which were recently frozen by the FSA. Special administrator Mazars has written to around 6,000 Merchant Capital clients, where Pritchard acted as custodian, and 6,000 Pritchard direct clients, warning of potential losses. In a letter, seen by Money Marketing, Mazars joint special administrator Tim Ball says: â??If there are insufficient monies in the companyâ??s client accounts to meet all valid claims to those funds, all the companyâ??s clients will bear the shortfall pro rata and have an unsecured claim for the balance in the special administration. â??It is my understanding that such a shortfall exists in the companyâ??s client accounts, although the exact amount involved is not yet known.â? Mazars has refused to give an estimate for the shortfall. A Merchant Capital spokesman says £6m-worth of client monies are frozen with Pritchard. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme says it treats stockbroking as an investment activity, so it would pay a maximum of £50,000 to clients. Mazars does not have an estimate of how many clients have assets above this level. Pritchard has not yet been declared in default by the FSCS. Lowes Financial Management managing director Ian Lowes says: â??We expect the shortfall will be recoverable from the FSCS, which, no doubt, advisers will have to contribute to.â? Mazars was appointed special administrator on March 9 after the FSA suspended Pritchardâ??s permissions due to concerns about the way it handled client assets and monies. On the same day, structured product provider Merchant Capital said it would transfer all £350m of clientsâ?? non-cash assets from Pritchard to new custodian Reyker Securities but cash assets were frozen by the regulator. A Merchant Capital spokesman says: â??Merchant Capital does not know whether there will be a shortfall but if there is, it is expected to be covered by the compensation scheme.â? Parent company Merchant House Groupâ??s shares are currently suspended pending a review of its finances to determine whether or not it has sufficient working capital for its present requirements. Earlier this month, Merchant House Group announced it is awaiting payment for shares worth £150,000 after it issued £761,500-worth of shares in February. A spokesman says: â??Merchant Capital is separately capitalised and the directors of Merchant Capital are happy with the capital situation.â? Former Glasgow Rangers owner Craig Whyte was company secretary of Pritchard and is also director of Liberty Capital, a British Virgin Islands-based company which owns 18.32 per cent of Merchant House Group. Merchant House Group has an IFA arm, Merchant House Financial Services, which was established in December 2010 after the acquisition of the assets of Clarkson Hill which is in default with the FSCS. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 0 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 The Arsenal shares money will have been removed first. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 0 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Pritchards was wound up today......with a £3.4m shortfall. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juancornetto 1 Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Well blow me, never saw that coming :-) 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,114 Posted May 3, 2012 Share Posted May 3, 2012 It is indeed a tangled web the c*&t has weaved..... A creditor report says Mazars has identified £23.7m of client cash against £27.1m of client claims, creating a shortfall of £3.4m. A total of £6m of Merchant Capital client cash is currently frozen with Pritchard. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme says it treats stockbroking as an investment activity and would pay a maximum of £50,000 to clients if the firm is declared in default. A Mazars spokesman says only five Merchant Capital clients have over £50,000 of cash assets with Pritchard, although it will not give figures for the individual sums involved. Around 1 per cent of Pritchard’s 5,600 direct client have cash assets over £50,000. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,665 Posted May 3, 2012 Author Share Posted May 3, 2012 I say again, this issue may be the one that sees Whyte go down. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
forlanssister 3,114 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Surprise , surprise he failed to deliver the money when requested! Bournemouth-headquartered Pritchard Stockbrokers, whose former company secretary was ex-Glasgow Rangers owner Craig Whyte, was holding more than £200,000 of the Scottish football club's cash when it went into special administration. A new report has also revealed that administrators estimate there will be shortfall of more than £3m to Pritchard Stockbrokers' former clients. Tim Ball, Rod Weston and Alistair Steven Wood of Mazars were appointed joint special administrators of Pritchard Stockbrokers Ltd on 9 March 2012. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) issued a First Supervisory Notice on 10 February preventing the company from carrying out its regulated activities. The regulator said this was because it had "failed to arrange adequate protection for clients' assets"; had allowed client money to be used on its own account and not that of clients; and it continued to "fail threshold conditions required". The FSA said that personal investment firms are required to maintain a minimum level of capital but the amount Pritchard held fell below this in January 2012. Pritchard had relied on a £2m facility provided by Liberty Capital Ltd, a British Virgin Islands-registered company which the administrators understand "has connections" to Whyte. Although the FSA requested the company should use this to meet its liquidity gap, a report from the Mazars said that these funds were requested but were not paid over. This meant the company was unable to continue to trade and it was suspended from the Stock Exchange on 16 February. The administrators said that on their appointment they were advised that "a number of significant guarantees" had been provided to the company to support its ongoing trade. Two guarantees worth approximately £1.1m have been granted by Tixway UK Ltd, a company which lists Whyte as its sole director. The administrators added that solicitors are currently reviewing the guarantees to establish whether or not Tixway UK may be in a position to satisfy the guarantees. The report from the administrators also said they have so far identified approximately £23.7m of client cash against claims of £27.1m. They estimate that there will be a shortfall of £3.4m to its 11,000 clients. Pritchard Stockbrokers was also providing custodian services to Merchant Capital Ltd. The administrators said there are approximately 5,500 clients with a balance of £6.4m through these custodian services. Pritchard Stockbrokers had one secured creditor, Lloyds TSB, which holds a fixed and floating charge of the company's assets. The administrators said they are investigating the validity of the debenture and assessing what final claim will be made. It is also estimated that £50,000 is owed to employees. At the date of the appointment of administrators, salaries had not been paid for February. A total of 22 employees were made redundant on 6 March and a further six were also made redundant or left since the administrators' appointment. A total of 12 employees have been retained by the administrators. The administrators said the preferential claims "may be paid in full" depending on the realisation of non-client assets in the administration. However, the administrators said they are "unable to estimate the likely recovery for unsecured creditors at this stage". An estimate of the total of unsecured creditors is also not yet available. Glasgow Rangers FC are listed as one of the clients which Pritchard Stockbrokers was holding money for. The administrators have estimated that the club is owned £223,214. Whyte was appointed company secretary of Pritchard Stockbrokers on 22 July 2009 and resigned on 14 February this year. This is the same day that Duff and Phelps were appointed administrators of Rangers FC, following a petition from HM Revenue & Customs over an alleged non-payment of tax following Whyte's takeover of the club. An inquiry from the Scottish Football Association has since found that Whyte is "not considered to be a fit and proper person to hold a position within Association Football". He has also been banned for life from any participation in association football in Scotland. Manchester stockbroker WH Ireland bought all client assets held under management (excluding client money) and clients for £500,000 on 28 February. http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/south-west/70007-3m-shortfall-expected-after-pritchard-admin/ 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 We'll never get a sniff of that £223k for the Arsenal shares. If the buyer of the shares had any decency he'd gift them back to Rangers and take the matter of the missing £223k up with Craig Whyte. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyjones 0 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 We'll never get a sniff of that £223k for the Arsenal shares. If the buyer of the shares had any decency he'd gift them back to Rangers and take the matter of the missing £223k up with Craig Whyte. The Russian Mafia don't do decency. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zappa 0 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 The Russian Mafia don't do decency. No, but they could probably get money out of Craigy Bhoy. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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