Asset Life plc, which raised £8 million from investors in its bonds, has gone into administration, according to reports. Confirmation of the administration was filed with Companies House on Wednesday.
David Rubin & Partners have been appointed as administrators, who are also currently investigating MJS Capital (aka Colarb).
We reviewed Asset Life plc’s bonds in January 2018.
Asset Life plc claimed to have an insurance policy in place which provided “Security of the Capital”. Exactly what this insurance covers is yet to be made clear, but no investment offering 8.75% per year to the public is fully insured against the risk of loss, and investors would be wise to manage their expectations.
The FCA issued a warning against Asset Life in May 2019, five years after Asset Life plc began selling its bonds.
Media spotlight fell on Asset Life plc after the collapse of London Capital & Finance, due to a connection between its directors.
Asset Life plc’s Chairman, Martin Binks, was a director of collapsed minibond firm London Capital & Finance from October 2015 to August 2016.
Since May 2014 Martin Binks has been a director of another former minibond firm, Anglo Wealth Limited. In December 2018 Anglo Wealth Limited was described as an “elegantly packaged scam” by a Southwark Crown Court judge, who sentenced two other Anglo Wealth directors, Terrence Mitchell and Andrew Meikle to suspended prison sentences and disqualification as directors.
Binks has not been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to his ongoing role at Anglo Wealth.
Despite the fact that the bulk of the Anglo Wealth funds were “dissipated on supporting the defendants’ lifestyles”, according to lawyers advising the CPS, Anglo Wealth investors were repaid in full.
With the collapse of Asset Life plc, the question of where the money to repay them came from is more urgent than ever.