A number of shareholders with stakes in the insolvent Avocet Infinite business claim they have not been able to access company accounts and other corporate information, and are demanding to know the whereabouts of the Group's "missing millions".
Although the 'ground breaking' high profile concern now known as Omega Infinite is in the hands of liquidators and the Official Receiver, investors have been told by the company's leading director Martin Frost via an interview with The Sunday Times that their shares are now worth 50% more than before.
That is apparently because the Avocet Infinite 'assets' including intellectual property have been protected by being switched to a different firm called Avocet Natural Capital. Mr Frost and his fellow directors own the patents for Avocet, an additive which he has asserted would revolutionise fuel production.
The Borders-based group also promised to change the face of agricultural systems by using 'disruptive technology' on three Berwickshire farms. However, Avocet subsidiary Orrdone Farms is currently being investigated by joint administrators appointed by a financial business said to be owed more than £3 million. Other creditors have so far filed claims totalling in excess of £650,000.
As the affairs of Avocet Infinite concentrate the minds of liquidators Begbies Traynor, many of the 650 shareholders - between them believed to have paid £14 million into the business - who thought the 'green' fuel additive was likely to be a winner are becoming increasingly angry and frustrated by what has taken place over recent months.
Under the Avocet Infinite set-up no single shareholder was allowed to own more than 10% of the business. But there are no such limits in the case of Avocet Natural Capital (ANC).
Mr Frost holds a massive 13,960,765 shares in ANC giving him outright control. In addition one of his other businesses, Loch Lomond Heritage has 1,455,000 shares and an organisation called Avocet Natural Foundation Holdings 3,458,198.
All of that means individual shareholders, some of whom invested sums of up to £1 million and more when Avocet Infinite was in its infancy, say they are powerless to take action against the 'new' company.
To compound matters, the 2018 annual accounts for Avocet Natural Capital are long overdue. They should have been lodged with Companies House in December last year. The failure to meet that deadline constitutes a contravention of business rules. According to the last available set of accounts the controlling party of Avocet Natural Capital was Avocet Infinite.
On 3rd March this year the Registrar of Companies gave notice that "unless cause is shown to the contrary" Avocet Natural Capital would be struck off the register and dissolved. However, on 18th March the Registrar intimated that the striking off action had been discontinued.
One investor told Not Just Sheep & Rugby: "I liked the story behind the fuel additive and put my money in, perhaps foolishly and without due diligence. The people I know who became shareholders are a very respectable group. But they have been treated very badly. It is Mr Frost who takes all the decisions".
The shareholder who spoke to us claimed there were no up-to-date company accounts and no access to corporate records, adding: "Avocet Natural Capital is just part of a veritable web of companies set up by Mr Frost, and no-one can get to the bottom of it all".
We were also told: "No-one can sell their shares for this is a private company. So where has the money gone? The directors of Avocet Infinite has never given shareholders an explanation. When are the shares going to be traded? That’s what shareholders want to know."
Sources are asking whether company law has been breached, but given the total lack of available paperwork that question remains unanswered for now. There are also tales of employees not being paid and of suppliers being left out of pocket.
"The bottom line is we are powerless to act", said the investor. "As far as I'm aware Avocet Infinite or Omega Infinite as it's now called did not produce any of the well publicised fuel additive. It is believed some kind of manufacturing contract was being arranged with a major player but nothing seems to have come of that".
Asked whether they had seen the series of extremely up-beat articles about Avocet Infinite in The Parliamentary Review - a publication chaired by former UK Government ministers Lord David Blunkett and Lord Eric Pickles but apparently not linked to Parliament - the investor replied "Yes and I certainly believed Parliamentary Review had a direct connection with Westminster. That impression was certainly given".
Another shareholder who contacted Not Just Sheep & Rugby was equally scathing in his angry condemnation of the Avocet Infinite operation.
This time we were told: "There has been a continual blame game – problems are always the fault of everyone else. There has even been excuses based around Covid-19.
"The reason so many people have put money into Avocet is because the concept is actually right. Many bright people have invested because they believed the fuel additive has been both proven and patented. It is a travesty that the directors of Avocet Infinite have got their hands on it. I am furious.
"So the shares in Avocet Infinite have been transferred to Avocet Natural Capital and each shareholder now has 50% more shares. But what is 50% of nothing? More shares simply means more paper. It's meaningless. There are no accounts and no corporate information for these Avocet companies after 2017, and even that was questionable.
"And without corporate information it is difficult to take action to try to find out what might have happened. Ironically the fuel additive product would still work, it is a proven concept.
"The transfer of the shares from Avocet Infinite to Avocet Natural Capital may have been quite legal and above board, but as I say no-one has seen the paperwork. It is a sorry, sorry mess. Shareholders have had no information about developments which resulted in Avocet Infinite’s insolvency. Those who attended a so-called annual general meeting last November were told the business was going to pay off all creditors. But that statement was patently false."
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