One of Glenn Maud’s companies, Propinvest Group Limited, was put into administration on Friday.
Jamie Toynton and Malcolm Sheirson of Grant Thornton were appointed joint administrators to the Guernsey-registered company at a hearing at Guernsey Court following an application by Norwegian bank DnB NOR.
It is understood that Maud’s Propinvest Group Limited will be seeking to overturn the decision.
The order from the bank is part of a legal row over a £200m Scandinavian portfolio.
DnB NOR claims it was left out of pocket following the restructure of a €200m loan used by Propinvest to refinance a 62-asset retail portfolio bought in 2006.
Propinvest Group Limited formerly owned the stakes in the Citi Tower in Canary Wharf and bought by Propinvest for £1.1bn during the property boom.
The “economic benefit and control” of this building was moved outside of the Propinvest group of companies more than three years ago.
A statement from Propinvest Group Limited said: “Propinvest Group Limited (PGL) vigorously contests the ruling concerning the application for an administration order filed by DnB Norbank (DnB) against PGL originally in July 2011.
“PGL has leave to appeal and will therefore appeal the decision on the basis that the factual conclusions reached by the court are perverse and wrong as a matter of law.
“In PGL’s view the decision lacks merit and is wholly unjustified as it is not supported by the factual and legal evidence in the case, in particular:
• DnB is not and will not ever become a creditor of PGL. The entirety of the alleged debt was and remains vigorously disputed
• PGL contends that assets it consensually and in good faith transferred by agreement to DnB in May 2011 consisting of the shares of all its Scandinavian subsidiaries which own the valuable 64 property portfolio in Scandinavia are of more than sufficient value to settle any liability to DnB
“PGL intends to imminently seek a stay of execution of the Royal Court’s order preventing it taking effect pending determination of the appeal.”
It added that PGL is a non-trading single company out of a group consisting of more than 100 companies, and other companies within the group are unaffected by this decision and continue to trade as normal.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
