The directors of Munio Capital, which in 2016 offered five-year unregulated bonds paying 9.8% per annum, have applied to strike the company off the register.
Munio is six months overdue with its accounts and recently survived a compulsory strike-off in July 2018. That strike-off attempt was launched by Companies House due to the company’s failure to file a confirmation statement; this latest strike-off has been requested by the directors themselves, specifically director and joint-owner Gary Williamson.
Munio Capital’s website is down and its phone number goes straight to an answering machine.
The stated aim of the company was to provide liquidity to a payday lender in the US. Investors have alleged that Munio invested investors’ money in Privilege Wealth, which is in administration.
How much was invested in Munio Capital is not known as the company has failed to file accounts since its bond raise.
If no objection is received to the striking off, the company will be dissolved and all Munio Capital’s assets, if any, will become property of the UK Government (though creditors could apply to have this reversed). UK law requires that all Munio’s creditors must be notified of the striking off application.
The strike-off application suggests the directors believe Munio Capital – and by extension its bonds – to be worthless.
How do I get my money back from Munio Capital?
Munio Capital was promoted to at least some investors by regulated financial advisors. If you were advised to invest by an FCA-regulated adviser, you may be able to recover your money by making a formal complaint that the bonds (which were suitable only for sophisticated and high net worth investors investing a small part of their assets) were unsuitable.
If the adviser refuses to provide compensation, the complaint can be taken to the Financial Ombudsman, which can order compensation of up to £150,000 per person. If the adviser is unable to pay, you would be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £50,000 per person.
Investors should avoid Claims Management Companies (CMCs) as they are unnecessary (the FOS and FSCS process is slow but straightforward), often have a lower success rate than direct complaints, and charge eye-watering fees (often 30% of monies recovered).
If you invested in Munio Capital, you should be on your guard against anyone contacting you and telling you that they can recover your money. It is highly likely that you will be targeted by fraud recovery fraud. If anyone asks you to pay “legal fees” or “liquidation fees” to release your money it is almost certainly a scam.
Another one bites the dust …
A question I have is has there ever been a “successful” unregulated bond that pays all its coupons and redeems at the end of the term?
I am waiting for one unregulated bond in particular, reported here on this site at the end of 2017, whose name is – and imho characteristics – ironically similar to: “a region of spacetime exhibiting such strong gravitational effects that nothing—not even light — can escape from inside it”, also to bite the dust.
Loads. BrewDog might be the most famous example. Rubbish beer but I can’t argue with the financials. A number of other well-known companies that have launched minibonds like Hotel Chocolat, targeted principally at fans of the product. I *think* that despite the travails of Secured Energy Bonds, there were good predictable returns to be made from government subsidies for a while (though it was a little before my time). And we needn’t count the thousands of bonds traded on regulated exchanges as the layer of scrutiny applied by the exchange makes them not unregulated.
I don’t include BrewDog type bonds here because a) there is enough coverage out there already b) of the way they are marketed.
Nothing wrong with the investment class providing the investor understands the risks and considers the offered return commensurate.