Crain's Manchester Business - 23-27 November, 2009 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S LIST Insurance Brokers Page 14 FOCUS Page 13 Commercial Property Business parks hold their own CRAIN’S MANCHESTER BUSINESS VOL. 2, ISSUE 47, NOVEMBER 23 - 27, 2009 CrainsManchesterBusiness.co.uk £2 What’s News ■ The administrators of Cheadlebased Legal Advice Bureau have sold the business and assets of the collapsed firm to former owners Michael McGrath and Gerard Finneran’s new vehicle, claimfree.co.uk. The directors will pay £525,000 for the firm, the amount owed to secured creditor Bank of Scotland. Dean Watson, joint administrator at insolvency firm Begbies Traynor, said the outcome for the remainder of creditors owed more than £900,000 — including £80,000 to employees, £433,000 to HMRC and more than £390,000 to trade creditors — would depend on how much of the debtor book can be collected, but the deal will save 30 of the 80 jobs at the firm. Legal Advice Bureau generate leads for personal injury lawyers but after the Ministry of Justice banned claims management firms from cold calling potential clients, income dried up. It was placed into administration on September 16. ■ MEN Media is to move its Channel M television station out of Urbis into the Sharp Project, a Manchester City Council-owned converted warehouse in Newton Heath. The channel had to find a new home because Urbis is due to close next Spring for renovation work prior to the relocation of the National Football Museum from Preston. The Sharp Project, a former consumer electronics distrubition centre, was converted earlier this year to create 200,000 sq ft of office and production space for creative companies. The council is charging as little as £3 per sq ft for space in the building. MEN Media declined to comment. ■ Bank of Scotland commercial director Paul Smith is to leave the firm at the end of the year to join the Manchester office of corporate recovery firm MCR. Smith was one of three regional directors running Bank of Scotland’s North West commercial team but following its merger with Lloyds he decided to leave the firm to pursue other opportunities. ■ Argent has submitted a planning application to demolish Elisabeth House in Manchester city centre, ahead of its proposed redevelopment. Argent, in conjunction with the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund (GMPVF), is planning to build a new 14-storey block on the site which will feature cafes and restaurants on the ground floor and offices on the upper floors. ■ Twenty two councils, police and transport authorities have joined forces to create a four-year panel of law firms and chambers. The West Consortium, which includes Liverpool City Council and the Merseyside Police Authority, More delays for £140m loan fund as NWDA scraps tenders BY MICHAEL FAHY The region’s £140m Venture Capital and Loan Fund faces yet more delays after the North West Regional Development Agency was forced to abandon its latest effort to appoint a fund manager Fund managers bidding to run the VCLF — for which tenders were first issued in June 2008 — were informed by the agency in writing last week that the initial tenders for the process had now been scrapped and that Investment bank unconvinced about ability of those on shortlist to deliver range of services the agency was going back to the drawing board to devise a new structure for the fund. A person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Crain’s that the European Investment Bank, which will fund the VCLF, was unconvinced about the ability of those on the shortlist to deliver the full range of services — including micro-loans, seed capita, early-stage funding and larger equity investments. The letter sent to fund managers last week stated that the European Investment Bank “would not fund the Venture Capital and Loan Fund based on current proposals”. The agency is currently drawing up new tenders and a spokesman said that two fund managers had been appointed to an interim £15m venture capital fund and a loan fund last week. The fund is already accepting applications and will run until March 2010. YFM Private Equity is handling equity and mezzanine investments of up to £2m and Alliance Fund Managers is looking after loan SEE VCLF, PAGE 18 Kennedy writes off £3.7m on County BY RICHARD MORRIS Sale Sharks owner and double glazing entrepreneur Brian Kennedy took a £3.7m bath when Stockport County Football Club collapsed into administration. Newly filed accounts for Kennedy’s firm, Cheshire Sport Promotions Ltd, which manages income from Sale’s Edgeley Park stadium, show the entrepreneur wrote off the remainder of a loan to County once the troubled football team went under in April. As a result of exceptional debt provisions, the company posted a £3.74m pre-tax loss in the year to June 2008, compared to a £1m profit a year earlier. Cheshire Sport is the parent company of Manchester Sale Rugby Club Ltd (Sale Sharks), whose chief executive James Jennings said the collapse of County came as a surprise. He told Crain’s: “We weren’t expecting it. As a result of the club going into administration and the CVA arrangements, Cheshire Sport agreed to waive its claim in relation to that loan to help the football club survive. The effect of having to provide against that loan on the balance sheet is clear.” Jennings said the loss would not have an immediate knock-on effect on the rugby club as the loan was due to be repaid over a long period. Accounts have also been filed for Sale Sharks, which likewise found itself in a poor financial position in Peter Saville with his recently-launched Manchester wrapping paper SAVILLE ON £12Ok A YEAR BY SIMON BINNS eter Saville receives £120,000 a year from Manchester City Council to act as the city’s creative director. The salary is more than twice that of the council’s leader, Sir Richard Leese, who gets paid £52,000 a year. The council told Crain’s that Saville, who first made his name with Manchester’s Factory Records, receives “around £10,000 a month” as a consultancy fee. He has been paid the same monthly compensation since he was appointed to the post in April 2004, meaning Saville has received about £670,000 from the city’s taxpayers. The monthly fee includes Saville’s expenses for travel, accommodation and communications, plus administrative and creative support from his own office. Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council, defended the salary and said Saville could earn far more in the private sector. “The payment he receives from Manchester City Council reflects his global significance, his commitment and the work he delivers,” he said. “This monthly fee is still considerably less than the rates he can command from the private sector. P SEE WHAT’S NEWS, PAGE 2 SEE SAVILLE, PAGE 18 SEE SHARKS, PAGE 18 Leading Page 3 CHETHAM’S WANTS £10m FOR NAMING RIGHTS ON NEW BUILDING http://CrainsManchesterBusiness.co.uk http://claimfree.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's Manchester Business - 23-27 November, 2009

Crain's Manchester Business - 23-27 November, 2009
Index
Taking Stock
Opinion/Our View
City Region: Tameside
Focus: Commercial Property
Crain's List
For the Record
Events, People, Gossip

Crain's Manchester Business - 23-27 November, 2009