Company providing ISA wrappers to unregulated bonds collapses; LCF administrator appointed

October 14, 2019October 13, 2019 ~ Brev ~ Leave a comment

Asset manager Reyker Securities has been placed into special administration.

Reyker was mostly known as a stockbroker and Discretionary Fund Manager, but part of its business involved approving promotional literature and providing an ISA wrapper to two investments reviewed here: Blueprint Bond and Astute Capital.

Both Blueprint and Astute Capital remain in business and should in theory be largely unaffected by Reyker's collapse, as the ISA status of investors' funds should remain valid despite the administration.

Providence and Secured Energy investors compensated in full

October 10, 2019October 4, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

Last month it was revealed that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme has compensated investors in Providence Bonds and Secured Energy Bonds in full (up to £50,000), paying out a total of £10 million (£5 million for each).

Providence and Secured Energy Bonds paid interest of 8.25% and 6.5% per year. Both collapsed with total losses to investors.

Introducer turns on Carlauren and approaches “fraud litigation” lawyers as investors allege it took 10% commission

October 7, 2019October 4, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

Rancor continues to circle the crumbling Carlauren Group.

Carlauren, reviewed here in April 2018, raised money from investors promising 10% per year returns from investment in care homes. The company run out of money to pay investors in February 2019, and its collapse has meant frail and elderly care home residents being ejected with 24 hours' notice, and hotel properties left to rot.

On the public Facebook group Sandown Hub, a resident of Sandown noticed that one of its former introducers, One Touch Property Investment (officially One Touch Solution Ltd), was apparently continuing to sell units in its care home.

One Touch clarified that it was no longer selling Carlauren investments. In the ensuing thread, it revealed that it has approached a "fraud litigation solicitor" on behalf of investors to pursue Carlauren over "misrepresentation".

Viderium files first accounts, fails to meet profit target

October 3, 2019September 29, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

Cryptocurrency and data centre firm Viderium has filed its first accounts for the year ending December 2018.

The company aimed to raise £5 million from bonds paying 9.8% for a 3 year term, reviewed here in June 2018 (its accounts say their loans carry interest between 9.8% and 12%). Its accounts show that as at December 2018, it missed its target by about £1 million, with total creditors of £3.9 million.

Blackmore Bond again puts off filing accounts

October 1, 2019September 30, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 2 Comments

The Times reports that Blackmore Bond is "set to" extend its accounting date again.

Blackmore Bond plc should have filed its December 2018 accounts by June 2019, but used the one-day-shortening loophole to legally delay filing accounts for three months. That three months expired on Friday 27th. The Times says that Blackmore will delay for another three months, which almost certainly means using the shortening loophole again.

Any Armenian iron; Asset Life plc administrators report

September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 1 Comment

The administrators of Asset Life have released their initial report.

Asset Life plc, reviewed here in January 2018, raised £8.9 million from investors in three unregulated minibond issues (A, B and C). At the time of my review they were offering 8.75% per year for a three year term.

Series A and B investors were defaulted on when the return of their capital fell due. Asset Life plc asked them to give 12 months' grace, which some gave, but others refused. Asset Life was unable to repay those investors who insisted on getting their money back. Interest payments stopped in November 2018.

In May 2019, the FCA issued a warning (five years after Asset Life plc began operation) that Asset Life might be conducting regulated activities without authorisation.

Asset Life went into administration three months later in August 2019.

Bond Review is now ad-free

September 27, 2019September 26, 2019 ~ Brev ~ 14 Comments

About a year ago, when Bond Review's traffic had started to tick up from "my nan" to "extremely obscure", I started serving ads via WordPress to cover the costs of hosting the blog.

The revenue from these ads goes up and down (despite the growing readership) and in terms of ad revenue v hosting costs I'm somewhere around break-even.

Put it this way, I'd have to run 100 Bond Reviews before HMRC took an interest.

In terms of time cost I'm several thousand in the red, but that's not an issue as Bond Review has always been a hobby and was never about money (despite being about money).

I began Bond Review with a simple philosophy: if an hour or two of my time prevents someone from losing a lifetime's worth of savings, in a high risk investment that wasn't suitable for them, then it's a good trade. That still stands.