Collapsed Premier Group loses out on £39m debt payment

There is no prospect that Isle of Man-based Premier Group will receive any of the £39m ($50.6m, €44.4m) the company is owed by a waste management company it funded through its New Earth Group collective investment schemes.

Collapsed Premier Group loses out on £39m debt payment

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Joint administrators of the waste management company, Duff and Phelps, have confirmed to the Premier Group that the company will not get back any of the money it is owed, reports local newspaper IOM Today.

The New Earth Group, which was managed and promoted by the Premier Group, went into administration in June 2016 after the Isle of Man High Court of Justice granted a winding up application from the island’s regulator.

The group consisted of an Isle of Man specialist fund called New Earth Recycling and Renewables (NERR) and two feeder funds; the Premier Investment Opportunities Fund (PIOF) and the Eclipse Investment Fund.

In a letter to shareholders dated 16 June 2016, the Premier Group advised that it was unlikely that a sale of assets would generate a return for the fund.

Waste treatment sites sold

Two days after New Earth went into administration, a company called DM Opco bought New Earth’s business for £5.9m, securing the five waste treatment sites it operated in the UK.

The company also paid off £35m of debt that New Earth owed the Co-op Bank.

The report from Duff & Phelps shows NERR was owed £39m but that there is no prospect of it being paid.

The administrators are currently seeking a 12-month extension for them to deal with claims from non-preferential creditors, who rank below preferential and secured creditors in terms of recouping losses.

Claims in excess of £36m have been received from non-preferential creditors who are expected to get back just 1.5p in the £1.