Crain's Manchester Business - 16-20 November, 2009 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S LIST Wealth Managers & Stockbrokers Page 14 FOCUS Page 11 Wealth Management CRAIN’S MANCHESTER BUSINESS VOL. 2, ISSUE 46, NOVEMBER 16 - 20, 2009 CrainsManchesterBusiness.co.uk £2 Is now the time to buy shares? What’s News ■ Four companies forming the remainder of the Bolton-based land remediation group Encia have been placed into administration. The Manchester office of insolvency practice MCR has been appointed as administrators to Encia Holdings Ltd, Encia Environmental Ltd, Encia Demolition Ltd and CH09 2008 Ltd. MCR also handled an earlier attempt to restructure the £17mturnover group in November 2008 which led to four other group companies being placed into administration. The business had been majority-owned by Nick Bone since a Bank of Scotland-funded management buy-out which took place in November 2002 but had fallen victim to a lack of demand due to the housing slump. The administrators, who are still seeking a buyer, said all 83 staff have been made redundant. ■ Those in favour of keeping the National Football Museum in Preston are winning the Facebook war. Eight groups have been set up on the social networking site in protest against the proposed move to Urbis in Manchester, amassing 8,117 members. Only one group has been set up to support the move – which has just one member so far. Some of the groups are against the museum moving out of the town and into Manchester, whereas others are more concerned with preserving Urbis as a broader cultural institution. A decision is expected on the move this week after museum trustees have considered an independent report analysing proposals from Manchester City Council and local authorities in Lancashire. ■ The chauffer driver car used by Manchester City Council was used 95 times in the 12 months from September 1, 2008. A new report by the council said the car, for which the new contract is currently out to tender, was used by the Lord Mayor’s office (30 times); the chief executive’s office (36); the leader’s office (18); executive members (8) and the council’s events team/international team (3). The council said contracting a hire car was value for money as spend for external provision since October 2005 averaged £10,780 a year with an average cost of around £120 per journey. The alternative cost of cost of providing an in-house vehicle and driver would equate to £40,000 a year with an average journey cost of around £420. ■ Manchester-based property firm Owners expect profit after arena defies property slump BY JAMES CHAPELARD Capital & Regional and GE Real Estate are confident of making a profit on the sale of the Manchester Evening News Arena. They are seeking offers in excess of £60m but insiders says the price could go higher because the venue has grown in value despite the recession. Capital & Regional and GE Real Estate UK bought the arena in 2006 in a 30:70 joint venture, pay- Growth of live music and demand for naming rights combine to boost investment value ing Anschutz Entertainment Group £61.7m. Sir Richard Branson, Donald Trump and Lord Sugar have been approached to buy the asset, although it’s unclear how interested any of them may be. Property companies and funds, including Threadneedle and Prudential, are studying the details of the sale while investors in America and the Middle East have also been targeted. As well as the 21,000 seater arena, the 3.25 acre complex includes 120,000 sq ft office block Martin House, a 1,025 space multi storey car park, the retail mall City Square and advertising hoardings. The current owners say more bars and restaurants could be added while a “mini” arena seating 4,000 or a hotel could be built on top of the existing car park. The new owners will also own lucrative naming rights which are due for renewal in July 2010. The naming rights generate annual revenues of £355,000, shared between the arena operator, SEE ARENA, PAGE 18 Nathan Ezair in Ancoats PHOTO: MARTIN O’NEILL/STUDIOFIVEFOUR.COM We won, say both sides in £50m Lexi lawsuit BY MICHAEL FAHY The first round of the £50m battle between Manchester law firm Pannone and the administrators of failed bridging loan firm Lexi Holdings has ended with a High Court ruling that has left both sides claiming victory. A summary judgement by Mr Justice Briggs in the High Court ruled that Pannone had been wrong to release money that had been held in Lexi’s client account on the instruction of its former managing director, Shaid Luqman. Luqman was subsequently jailed for contempt of court following the collapse of Manchester-based Lexi, which owed more than £100m to its lenders. MONEY IS NOT ENOUGH BY SIMON BINNS Progress to trial Lawyers acting on behalf of KPMG, which is handling the administration of Lexi Holdings, put forward an argument that Pannone had no real prospect of defending a claim that it had breached its obligations by allowing Luqman to redirect loan repayments away from a receipts account at Barclays which the company had agreed all proceeds had to go into. However, the judge decided Pannone did have a case and his ruling means that the matter can now progress to trial. A spokesman for KPMG said: “The administrators are pleased with the Artisan Holdings Ltd is the subject of two newly-created charges from Barclays Bank. The first charge relates to the freehold of Regency House, on the corner of Whitworth Street and Sackville Street, which houses a Bannatyne’s Health Club, the New Samsi restaurant and Gaia M SEE WHAT’S NEWS, PAGE 2 ore public money is being poured into the Ancoats area of Manchester to get construction going again on a string of stalled apartment schemes, but even some of the developers in the area are not entirely reassured. They fear the latest £6.5m rescue package of Kickstart grants from the Homes and Communities Agency may not be enough to transform the former industrial district of abandoned textile mills in the way that regeneration masterplans originally envisaged. Developers want to see more investment in the public realm and greater efforts to create a community in an area which has never achieved the vibrant vil- lage feel which planners hoped would flourish. ISIS, the regeneration arm of British Waterways, shelved its Islington Wharf scheme in Ancoats last year. The company is not receiving Kickstart cash but its development director, Mike Finkel, believes the area needs more than just “a series of big buildings” if it is to be a success. “The danger is that Ancoats will be a place where people just scurry in and out of their apartments with nowhere else to go in their local area,” he said. “Whether Kickstart will make a real difference to SEE ANCOATS, PAGE 18 SEE LEXI, PAGE 18 Leading Page 3 HOUSEBUILDER AIMS TO SELL CONTRACTING ARM TO MANAGEMENT http://CrainsManchesterBusiness.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Manchester Business - 16-20 November, 2009

Crain's Manchester Business - 16-20 November, 2009