In a significant departure from its historic position, an Isle of Man court has given liquidators greater scope than simply winding up a company’s affairs and enabled them to consider whether restructuring or refinancing proposals are worth pursuing.
An Isle of Man judge has ruled that the liquidator appointed to the collapsed Eco Resources Fund should be replaced despite objections from the island’s Financial Services Authority (IoMFSA).
John Bourbon, the former director of Isle of Man-based Premier Group, the company behind the ill-fated £300m New Earth Group of funds, has described the regulator’s decision to investigate allegations of mis-selling against the fund manager “something of a witch hunt”.
Isle of Man taxpayers will have to foot the bill for another collapsed fund, the Eco Resources Fund, which was set up by the troubled Premier Group in 2012.
Wound up Isle of Man-based investment fund manager the Premier Group has links to the Panama Papers, the worldwide scandal described as the “biggest ever blow” to the offshore world.
The Isle of Man’s financial services regulator is looking to officially liquidate the stricken Eco Resources Fund, which convinced 189 investors to put $61m (£48m, €57m) into building a bamboo plantation in Nicaragua.
Isle of Man-based Premier Group, the fund manager behind the ill-fated £300m ($373m, €353m) New Earth Group of funds, will be able to pay its creditors in full, according to joint liquidator Craig Mitchell.
