One of the companies in Glenn Maud’s £4.5bn Propinvest empire has been forced to sell a private jet in order to reduce looming debts of £20m.
Accounts for Propinvest Asset Management, one of a myriad of companies in the Sheffield property investor’s group, reveal that the sale was undertaken after auditors issued a warning about the future of the loss-making business.
In accounts for the year to 5 April 2011, recently filed at Companies House, auditor Rees Pollock said the company’s reliance on bank loans and related party support “indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the LLP’s ability to continue as a going concern”.
At the time, the firm had debts of £20m falling due within one year, including a £10.1m bank loan which was used to finance the purchase of the aircraft.
However, “subsequent to the year end, the aircraft was sold and the proceeds were used to repay the loan in full”, ahead of its original payment date of September 2012.
The firm also secured a two-year extension on a £7.9m loan from Luxembourg-incorporated Navarro Ventures SARL, “the beneficial owner of which is a connected party to Glenn Maud”. It was due in April 2011.
Separately this week, the value of Maud’s Gemini portfolio was revealed to have fallen by 61% from its £1.2bn peak value.
