Ballinteer - Avocet's hidden jewel in the crown?

SPECIAL FEATURE by OUR BUSINESS STAFF

Many of the 650 shareholders who between them have invested millions of pounds in the Avocet fuel and farming businesses may never have heard of Ballinteer Farm, a 70-acre holding near Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

And the Avocet stakeholders may also be unaware that planning permissions capable of delivering the company's 'disruptive technology' concepts were in place at Ballinteer, a clear advantage over the group's other agricultural properties all of which lacked the necessary paperwork.

When Ballinteer's owner James Christie and Avocet chairman Martin Frost signed a formal agreement in May 2018 which allowed the Borders firm to lease the farm for ten years with a further ten-year option it seemed the 'revolutionary' production methods promoted in Avocet company literature were about to become a reality.

The demolition crews moved in and began knocking down Mr Christie's farm steading to make way for an anaerobic digester (AD) plant , a cow palace to house hundreds of Piemontese cattle, a hydroponics unit and the installation of various renewable energy structures including a methanol synthesis plant, a wind turbine, solar panels and a battery bank.

But only two months after the lease was signed Mr Frost informed Mr Christie and his wife Linda that he was repudiating the terms set out in the legal document and would be imposing new ones of his own. Their original deal as set down in the agreement was to be torn up

However, these damaging amendments were totally unacceptable to the Christies, and soon the ambitious project which would have secured a demonstration site showcasing Avocet to the wider world was abandoned, leaving Ballinteer's owners with a farm resembling a bomb site.

The ill-fated venture began in late 2017 when James Christie contacted Avocet. He said: "I believed we could assist them in developing their farm and fuel technologies.  Our farm ticked all the boxes and had all the pieces that Avocet needed including full planning permissions for a 250 kw wind turbine and a 500 kw AD plant. Discussions prompted a due diligence visit to our farm by a consultant who was sent by Martin Frost. A full survey of the farm was undertaken and a report produced and submitted to Mr Frost."

Not Just Sheep & Rugby has a copy of the Feasibility Study which quotes the cost of the AD plant as £2.5 million. Its conclusions obviously convinced Avocet's board of directors the project was deliverable.

Next came an invitation from Avocet which Mr Christie felt able to accept.

In an email in January 2018 Mr Frost wrote to another Avocet executive: "Prior to Avocet considering meaningful investment towards James Christie, can we get to know him better? Thus if James is agreeable I would like James to work for pay for Avocet in February in Scotland: in essence he could assist up at Houndwood and at Fingerpost. He could stay in a cottage and Avocet could provide him with transport whilst he is in Scotland."

Mr Christie explained: "I took much of my own machinery across and started work mainly at Houndwood and later Harcarse Hill (two of Avocet's Berwickshire farms). I worked over there from February to the end of May 2018.

"During this time Mr Frost had agreed to lease our farm as a demonstration site.  His plan was to demolish cattle houses and replace them with a cow palace and a hydroponics unit for the pedigree Piemontese cattle, leading on to an AD plant and wind turbine to convert the farm yard manure and feedstock to biogas, then into methanol for Avocet additive production.

"A lease was negotiated via a solicitor: outstanding issues were teased out and agreed and the lease was signed by Mr Frost and myself on 15 May 2018.  There was an outstanding mortgage on the farm, and Mr Frost suggested a forward paid lease to clear the debt which was drawn up in a separate agreement."

Before that, on May 3rd Mr Frost authorised the demolition works at Ballinteer in an email to the Christies: "Please proceed as previously discussed and Avocet shall bear the cost – as to such matters as you and John Commins, (Avocet's agricultural manager) have discussed - obviously including the employment of the two demolition contractors you mentioned to me earlier today."

The lease agreement also contained the following clause: "If the landlord (the Christies) is desirous of selling the property (or part of it) at any time during the term hereby granted the landlord shall grant to the tenant (Avocet Agriculture Ltd) an option for first refusal to purchase the property as well as the farm dwelling".

All seemed well. But with most of the Ballinteen farm buildings reduced to rubble, Mr Frost dropped a bombshell on James and Linda Christie via an email dated July 21st, 2018.

Said Mr Christie: "Martin Frost advised that he was changing the terms agreed in the lease, i.e. he was repudiating the original and presenting new terms.  He advised that as our farm lay in a TB area he could not house cattle here.

"Now TB is found in most areas of the UK and Ireland and indeed upon checking the relevant statistics available online we could see that TB was a bigger problem in the south of Ireland in Tipperary where Avocet Piemontese cattle were on John Commins' farm,and from this area surrogate cattle were being purchased and exported into the farms in Scotland.

"Avocet's chairman also indicated that a loss of option to purchase our farm made proceeding unviable.  Mr Frost was well aware of the option negotiations, it was all in the lease agreement which he signed. If he was not happy why did he sign and why wait two months when demolition had started before telling us? "

In Mr Christie's view  none of the 'excuses' advanced by Mr Frost were legitimate reasons for seeking to alter the terms of the lease. "I believe that Mr Frost was not at all happy that he did not get all

his own way in the lease negotiations, but that’s what negotiations are about: some give and take on both sides."  

The couple were told Avocet would now no longer pay for the lease of the AD plant and wind turbine site; payment would only be made if they could be demonstrated to be financially viable.  

And the 'new' terms meant Linda Christie would no longer be an employee of the firm while James  would have to work away from home on some of the other Avocet farms. 

Mr Christie told us: "So what was happening with our farm? Why it lay in tatters as most demolition had been completed for the cow palace. I believe Mr Frost had calculated that we would be forced into signing these new terms as we had no way out."

 Martin Frost had demanded complete control "and in order to achieve this he decided to move the goal posts when he believed we were at our weakest.  Our farm buildings were destroyed and we were no longer able to house cattle leaving us with severe difficultly as we struggled to earn a living.

"We decided that accepting his new terms and continuing to work for a man who could do such a thing was unconscionable.  We walked away and as a result all 650 Avocet shareholders lost their only chance of a working demonstration farm to showcase their disruptive technology to potential buyers and investors.  Mr Frost deprived the shareholders of that opportunity but failed to inform them of that loss and why it had occurred."

Since parting company with Avocet Mr Christie has been repeatedly demonised and accused of 'possible theft and other criminal activity' in shareholders' letters written and circulated by Mr Frost.

James Christie said: "Yes I am one of the many rogues on Martin Frost's hit list, some of whom you've written about already; miscreants who have apparently stolen, defrauded or the like.

"I often wonder about the advances Avocet could have made by now if they'd completed a working demonstration unit here on my farm. Such a facility would have shortened the odds for a healthy return on investments for Avocet’s long suffering shareholders. Unfortunately Mr Frost decided to throw away that golden opportunity".