Crain's Manchester Business - 8-12 March, 2010 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S LIST Digital Media Agencies Page 14 STARTS ON PAGE 11 Technology & Telecom Grants are key to funding R&D CRAIN’S MANCHESTER BUSINESS VOL. 3, ISSUE 10, MARCH 8 - 12, 2010 CrainsManchesterBusiness.co.uk £2 What’s News ■ Garry Cook, chief executive of Manchester City Football Club, is scheduled to make an appearance at international property show MIPIM next week. Cook will appear at the Cannes exhibition alongside Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council, and Eddie Smith, chief executive of regeneration company New East Manchester, on the Thursday, March 18 in the afternoon slot traditionally saved for the headline announcement from the Manchester delegation. The appearance of Cook will fuel speculation that the club and the city council intends to use MIPIM as the platform to announce plans for the area around the City of Manchester Stadium. ■ Eccles furniture manufacturer Creditors say Chowdery owes £50m Property developer makes offer of 1.7p in the pound at first hearing of bankruptcy petition BY SIMON BINNS Creditors are claiming more than £50m in the bankruptcy petition against Altrincham-based property developer Nabeel Chowdery. Several banks had representatives present when a bankruptcy petition was filed at Manchester County Court by Coutts & Co last Monday. Press and public were not admitted to the hearing at Manchester’s Civil Justice Centre and Coutts would not reveal the amount involved. However, people familiar with the situation say that HSBC is seeking £11m as a supporting creditor and Nationwide is claiming about £25m. The court was told that Chowdery has made an offer to creditors of 1.7p in the pound, but this is unlikely to be supported by the required 75 per cent majority of creditors by value. If that offer were accepted, it would mean a payout of around £1m from Chowdery. Under the terms of the draft offer, this money would be provided by his brother, Aneel Mussurat, who owns Manchester-based MCR Property Group. The value of claims from those present at the court totalled £12m, but this only included Coutts, HSBC, Aspinals, operators of the Ritz Casino in London. As well as Nationwide, there are also claims from another commercial bank and from HM Revenue & Customs. A source close to the situation told Crain’s: “There wasn’t much support for the offer put forward in the first meeting. There are a few banks in there and I think the feeling was that unless the offer is 100p in the pound, there’s no deal. “Nothing is likely to be agreed in the next meeting. Two weeks is not really long enough to talk over all of the suggestions put forward by Nabeel, but some of the larger creditors will probably dismiss the 1.7p fairly quickly.” Chowdery did not attend last week’s hearing, although the volume MDF Design Ltd has gone into administration. Paul Stanley and Jason Greenhalgh, both of Begbies Traynor, were appointed on February 19. The 19-year-old company, which employed around 50 people last year, said on its website that it was no longer trading. Based on Newhaven Business Park, it fabricated madeto-measure MDF vinyl-wrapped doors and ancillary products for bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens. It was part-owned by finance director Ivan Owen, directors Neil Hulme and Victoria Downs, and Alan Gill, who was not a director. Latest full accounts for the year to the end of June 2007 showed a loss of £150,000 on turnover of £3.6m. ■ Justin Bates, head of stockbroker Daniel Stewart’s Manchester office, has left the company. Bates, who was appointed to the group’s board in July 2008, left at the end of February. London-based Daniel Stewart, which last week raised £500,000 through a share placing to fund working capital requirements, opened an office in Lowry House in Manchester in 2005. It provides broking services and corporate finance advice to small and medium-sized companies, including locally-based CBG Group and Davenham. ■ Administrators dealing with Dylan Harvey Residential Ltd, the Salford-based property firm which collapsed last August, have received a total of £4.8m of claims from 390 creditors, according to a newly-filed report at Companies House. That figure could rise, however, as 216 creditors are yet to file their claims, which are collectively worth £1.7m. The report, prepared by the Manchester office of CLB Coopers, said it was still “unclear” if there would be any assets available to enable a distribution to creditors. CLB Coopers has so far spent 963 hours Alex Rhodes in the club’s dining room SEE BANKS, PAGE 18 Clients urge regulators to act over claims firm BY MICHAEL FAHY Customers of Manchester-based financial claims management firm Cartel Client Review are calling for regulators to take action after it emerged that both the Ministry of Justice and the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority are carrying out investigations into the firm and its legal advisor, Burleys Solicitors, which trades as Consumer Credit Litigation Solicitors. Julie Blackmer, who paid Cartel £3,590 to challenge seven mortgage and loan agreements as well as a credit card debt, said she had been unable to gain a response or a refund from the firm for months. She has lodged a complaint about Cartel with the Ministry of Justice and a complaint about Consumer Credit Litigation Solicitors to the SRA. “People’s livelihoods are at stake,” she told Crain’s. “Why are they still trading and why is everyone still faffing around?” In a statement issued to Crain’s last Friday, Cartel chief executive Carl Wright said the firm had been “the leading company in the financial claims industry for a number of years”. He added: “We have successfully processed thousands of claims for our clients in relation to areas of claims such as unenforceable credit agreements and PPI. Our successful cases have been highlighted in the national press, TV and radio. We continue to fight for our client’s rights and appreciate the support of the vast majority of the press and our clients.” ST JAMES BY JAMES CHAPELARD NEW FACE OF T SEE WHAT’S NEWS, PAGE 2 he red carpets, the wood panelling and the silverware will remain, but the 175-year-old St James’s Club is about to undergo a quiet revolution. It has appointed Alex Rhodes to a new post of full time operations manager. It’s the first time the private members’ club, historically run by a 13-member committee, has appointed anyone to handle sales and marketing. Rhodes said the club needed to move with the times by adding a “modern twist” to its core values. She plans to make joining easier for a wider range of people, with more facilities and new conferencing rooms on the top floor at 45 Spring Gardens, which is currently empty. According to Rhodes, the average age of the 230 members is around 50 and most are men. Although she declined to give names, BMI founder Sir Michael Bishop and Bruntwood chairman Mike Oglesby are members. Membership has declined in recent years, which Rhodes put down in part to an antiquated nomination system. The membership rules have since been relaxed but little publicity has been given to the change. SEE CLUB, PAGE 18 SEE CARTEL, PAGE 18 Leading Page 3 ALBERT GUBAY MAY HIT TEST MATCH PLANS FOR SIX http://CrainsManchesterBusiness.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Manchester Business - 8-12 March, 2010

Crain's Manchester Business - 8-12 March, 2010