Orb creditors to lose quay cash

From the Echo, first published Thursday 2nd Oct 2003.

CREDITORS of the collapsed Orb Group of Companies are unlikely to see a penny from the controversial Dolphin Quays development.

The restarting of work to finish the luxury apartments on Poole Quay last week has come too late for those owed money.

The mounting costs incurred by a four-month delay in construction when the project stood idle and unfinished during the summer means there is unlikely to be any cash for creditors owed millions.

There was disbelief among creditors at a London meeting yesterday as they were told the high-profile scheme is now unlikely to bring in any extra cash that could be re-distributed.

And Poole Pottery owed £1.7m to its parent company Orb Estates when it went into separate administration earlier this year.

Even if a current bid to sell the pottery business is successful it is unlikely Orb creditors will recoup more than £300,000 of that debt.

A digested account of how the company imploded in July was given by Douglas MacDonald, of administrators The MacDonald Partnership.

He described Orb as a complex group of companies run "as though they were a large group with a single identity".

He said: "If one component of the group goes down it has a domino effect and causes multiple insolvencies."

The group overstretched itself and this led to the financial difficulties that overwhelmed it, according to Mr MacDonald.

He said his firm's actions since being appointed administrators had raised around £15m extra for creditors above the realisation of Orb's immediate assets.

His firm is continuing to investigate the roles of Orb's directors in the collapse of the group and whether it is possible to pursue the off-shore businesses linked to Orb.

"There are a variety of off-shore companies that have liabilities to us. We are trying to wind up those off-shore companies to get those assets," said Mr MacDonald.

Mr MacDonald said: "Our primary focus is to investigate and realise as much as we can."

It is expected Orb Estates will eventually go into creditors' voluntary liquidation, possibly early in 2004.

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