Details of a private meeting involving Martin Frost, the chairman of a debt-ridden 'disruptive technology' business, and its liquidators including proposals aimed at restoring the company to the Companies House register have been circulated to 650 investors.
And a series of documents distributed by Mr Frost at the weekend carried a warning that the correspondence was 'identified with a tracker' and the contents should not be forwarded to third parties without the permission of Eirlys Lloyd, the company secretary.
As readers of these columns will know Omega Infinite PLC, one time parent company of the Avocet group, was placed in the hands of insolvency experts Begbies Traynor earlier this year following a successful petition to have the firm wound up by London law firm FieldFisher.
In February Mr Frost informed the holders of 22 million shares in Omega (previously called Avocet Infinite) that the company owed FieldFisher some £400,000 while a second firm of lawyers, Womble Bond Dickinson was due £600,000.
Mr Frost stated: "Omega Infinite Plc is to go into some form
of insolvency. A winding up petition initiated by lawyers Fieldfisher for some
£400,000 is to be heard in London; likely now to support this
petition are lawyers Womble Bond Dickinson for another some £600,000 along with
various other creditors for £300,000. The total trade creditor indebtedness of
Omega Infinite Plc is likely to reach some £2.5 million, and on top of which
there are private Avocet controlled loans in excess of £10 million."
In his latest update Mr Frost gives his account of a meeting held with Begbies Traynor in York last Friday.
He said: "From Dr. Bob Jennings [fellow Avocet director] and my perspective the main purpose of
the Friday meeting was to agree a procedure and methodology of how Omega
Infinite Plc could be restored to the Company House Registrar and thereby to
set down a procedure which would provide maximum cash benefit to Omega Infinite
Plc shareholders.
"Initially, there was a general agreement that the £3 million
cash I had secured from Frost family and colleagues would be sufficient to
settle Begbies fees along with all necessary creditor payments and statutory
interest.
"Indeed, at first, Mr. Ashleigh Fletcher (liquidator of Omega) got
down to basics and the discussion moved to the timing of the £3 million transfer to
Begbies and how soon thereafter all necessary payments might be made to restore
Omega to the Registrar."
Then, according to Mr Frost, Oliver Adams (assistant to Mr. Fletcher) raised the "problems of the Orrdone Administrators and Mr. James Christie and the likely delay that they might cause."
Avocet's chairman has launched a series of verbal attacks via shareholder letters against Joanne Brown and Emily Porter, the joint administrators of another insolvent Avocet business, Orrdone Farms Ltd. That company is said to have debts of more than £3 million including £600,000 due to trade creditors.
Meanwhile Mr Christie is expected to submit a very substantial claim for damages against Avocet Infinite after his Ballinteer Farm steading, near Coleraine was demolished to make way for a 'demonstrator' unit incorporating a "cow palace" and an anaerobic digester. But his contract with Avocet was abandoned after Mr Frost attempted to radically alter the terms of a 10-year lease on the farm.
Mr Frost's account of his meeting with Begbies Traynor goes on to outline serious allegations against the Orrdone administrators as well as the Orr family - Berwickshire farmers on whose land some of the Avocet agricultural activities were based.
He then says: "I
then explained to Begbies that measures were in hand to sue these people once
Avocet had the benefit of Ryecrofts (Ryecroft Glenton, Avocet's former auditors) accounts for Omega and Orrdone for the
years ending 2018 and 2019.
"When asked as to timing and upon the grounds the
legal actions would take I agreed to (a) provide the twin company accounts
prepared by Ryecrofts hopefully before the end of September 2020 and (b)
provide (subject to counsel’s agreement) copies of relevant legal opinions as
and when such fell due. I was further annoyed when Begbies indicated that they
thought that the Orrdone Administrators might seek to challenge Ryecrofts 2017
audited accounts as it appears that the Administrators have been fed spurious misinformation.
"I advised Begbies that with the benefit of the current
fact find and Ryecroft’s accounts I would expect serious legal action to
commence no later than October 2020. Such legal action against the Orrdone administrators will involve: A challenge
against their appointment upon the grounds on no debt due plus secondary issues
of conflict of interest. Actions for damages against the Administrators for
their physical actions; their defamatory and untrue public reporting; their
invasion of leased property, and theft or attempted theft of assets which they
know or should know that they have no entitlement to. I am particularly
personally angry about the reported and wanton destruction of family
property."
And Mr Frost concludes his report to Avocet shareholders with: "After a very convivial lunch, I agreed on behalf of Avocet
to provide Begbies with some further corporate security plus as much assistance
as possible to perform their complex tasks."
A shareholder who had read the various documents told us: “This seems to be a very strange liquidation, and Mr Frost appears to be almost
calling the shots. Omega’s registered address has not even been changed from
Berwick-on-Tweed to Begbies office in Sheffield. Yet Mr Frost told us not long
ago Omega had millions of pounds outstanding including unpaid creditors and £10
million in loans not to mention the £1 million owed to two firms of lawyers”.
Not Just Sheep & Rugby contacted the media relations firm which handles press enquiries for Begbies Traynor, Sheffield with a request for comment on Mr Frost's 'report', and for a progress report on the Omega Infinite liquidation. We received no response.
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