THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG


This blog was established to help get to the bottom of how the Collins & Bone Partnership reached the very sad situation it is now in, with its partner Liam James Collins having a bankruptcy hearing on 25th January (postponed)15th March 2012 (ditto), and finally bankrupted on 9th May 2012 (case # NEWC 1517 of 2011 BKT 3472187, Newcastle County Court, The Law Courts, The Quayside, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 3LA), and David Bone Jnr declared bankrupt on 31st May (case no 100 of 2012 Wigan County Court). The partnership used the following addresses:

25 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2 H9HW, UK

Eastern Villa, Station Rd. North, Forest Hall, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE12 9AE (owned by Liam Collin's parents, and now up for sale)

There are 3 specific goals of this blog:

• To find out what happened to the 1m+ GBP monies that C&B raised via PNs in late 2009, 2010 & 2011. I am excluding PNs issued to ex-CBS investors, but that said, this blog will be of interest to ex-CBS investors, and there is information that needs to be obtained from this set of investors wrt when PNs were issued to them, and their duration.

• To determine what, if any, criminal charges should be brought against the partners.

• To warn other investors off doing any business with the partners, their equally inept/unscrupulous extended family members, and supportive cohorts.

When you look at the PNs, there are no specific statements on the documents that specify how the monies were to be used - how you believed they were to be used is based on whatever e-mail/phone call foreplay you had beforehand with Liam Collins. That is why it is so important that the following information is collated for this category of C&B investors on an individual basis:

1) What did you believe you were investing in, and what was your basis for believing this?
2) What investment risks were you informed of?
3) What was your understanding of the purpose to which PN monies could be put?
4) What brochures and documents were you furnished with as prt of your due diligence?
5) What due diligence did you do?
This blog is being operated completely separate to Sally & Jasmine's blog (http://collins-bone-investors.blogspot.com), although we share the common goal of getting to the bottom of this mess in a professional manner. If you don't want to post anything on the blog in person, you can send an e-mail to me at lastdoghome@gmail.com - information conveyed in any such e-mails will only be posted on the blog on your behalf after any editting/your specific consent.


Ewart (The Editor)



Monday 27 February 2012

Ex-CBS investors asked to sign 5 year PNs 22/3/2011

As far as I am aware, the first time C&B investors who invested in 2009/2010/2011 became aware of the 5 year PNs was Nov 4th 2011 - if someone was aware of this beforehand, please contact me (lastdoghome@gmail.com)! It seems as though ex-CBS investors were requested to sign such PNs, with interest frozen as of 31/12/2010, much earlier than this, on 22nd March 2011, more than 7 full months before - see the e-mail below. As far as I am aware, no C&B investors who invested in 2009/2010/2011 were informed of this - again, please contact me if someone has information to the contrary! The e-mail states:

"Firstly we have the 2009/2010 Promissory Note investors. These are people who have invested varying amounts of money & are very happy to receive an interest payment each month. Something which has been paid by C&G in recent times."

This means that in the months immediately prior to March 22nd 2011, C&B couldn't even honour any of the interest payments on the PNs issued in 2009/2010/2011 - it had to rely on C&G. So all the PN monies raised in 2009/2010 had been consumed by 22/3/2011, minus a few months. And this gels with monthly payments to C&B investors became non-regular as of April 2011.
The e-mail also states:

"With this in mind, we have decided to form a ‘board’ of four fellow investors who will act on your behalf to oversee the repayment plan we have put in place."
In fact only three board members joined "THE BOARD" as follows:
Joe Sinagoga
103 Ifield Drive, Crawley, West Sussex. RH11 0EA
joe@sgaml.co.uk
Robert Wakefield
robert.wakefield@wysi.co.uk
r.wakefield@wysi.co.uk
robert@wysi.co.uk
John D. Chart
Barnett Alexander Conway Ingram LLP solicitors, Finchley
I will be trying to contact these board members to better understand the whole situation of ex-CBS investors from the point that they were offered 6-month PNs back in, what, circa July 2009, through to the point when they were being effectively forced to sign 5 year PNs in March 2011, which presumably some were not prepared to do ... I can only assume that Alistair McLean was one of them.


Below is the sequence of e-mails that were sent to ex-CBS investors in chronological order wrt being asked to sign 5-year PNs by C&B, and e-mails from "the board". Where e-mails were personalised (read generic, but with specific investor names inserted), I have replaced the investor's name with <investor>, and removed detailed timestamp data and restricted it to month & year to protect the anonimity of the ex-CBS investor who provided them.

The Editor


=================================================================================


From: Liam Collins [mailto:liam@collinsandbone.com]
Sent: 22 March 2011 12:52
To: Liam Collins
Subject: Repayment Plan.

Dear Investors

During the past few months, both Davey & I have been very mindful & respectful of each & every one of your own individual circumstances. We have worked tirelessly both individually and with others to come up with a practical formula that works & is acceptable to all investors.

With this in mind, we have decided to form a ‘board’ of four fellow investors who will act on your behalf to oversee the repayment plan we have put in place. They will be given full access to all areas of the C&B business, will be part of the future decision-making process and will ensure that funds (as and when available) shall be paid to investors without favour.In short, they will become your eyes & ears on the C&B board.

Initially “the board” will meet at least once a month. Once the repayment plan is in full flow, we will meet with them on a quarterly basis. The four of them are in exactly the same position as you. Like you they wish to do all they can to see their investment returned as quickly as possible.

Following much discussion, it has been agreed that the CBS/C&B investors were & will remain the responsibility of both Davey & myself. Therefore it has been decided that C&B will pay back the debt to investors, using the C&G ‘template’ that has been running so successfully during the past twelve months.

It is important on many levels that C&B pays back the debt, not least from the point of view that Davey & I have a good property portfolio that we both wish to retain as our own personal legacy. It was argued quite forcibly that if C&G were to underwrite the C&B debt, C&G would be burdened and would be unable to make progress of its own as a result.

The plan going forward.

We have two sets of investors.

Firstly we have the 2009/2010 Promissory Note investors. These are people who have invested varying amounts of money & are very happy to receive an interest payment each month. Something which has been paid by C&G in recent times.

Secondly we have the 2007/2008/2009 CBS/C&B investors. These people invested non refundable “up front profits” in return for our sourcing, renovating & managing student accommodation, backed with either a mortgage or other means of paying the outstanding balance.

As previously stated, it is our intention to use the C&G model of Joint Venture (JV) partnerships with one subtle difference. Unlike C&G we shall concentrate on the wider residential market. This opens up the market to a wider catchment of both properties & investors. We intend to use the same advertising & marketing methods as used by C&G, together with the same property sourcing methods & the same renovations & lettings people as C&G.

Before we launch the C&B JV model, it is vitally important that each & every one of you understands and accepts the following elements in order for C&B to become successful at paying down the debt.
  1. All interest payments to cease with immediate effect.
  2. No investor(s) shall jeopardize the project by issuing Statutory demands or Winding up Orders against C&B, or its partners.
  3. All investors sign a new five (5) year Promissory Note.
  4. No payback of monies is foreseen until July 2012, although this could be brought forward by improved performance of the JV model.
We do appreciate that most of the above elements will be unpalatable. However, we firmly believe that you will want to hear things as they are, and to be given the most pessimistic scenario, rather than promises that simply cannot be met. Davey and I fully recognize that promises have been made in the past, albeit in good faith, but circumstances, naivety or our own poor judgment have conspired against us and these have not always been met. Notwithstanding this, our intentions have always been honourable and we have demonstrated this on numerous occasions. Looking ahead, any assurances or promises must be met: we fully recognize that.

Because of the inclusion of fellow investors having seen the overall picture of C&B debt & the C&G model in place & working, it is felt by one and all that the following timescales are achievable.

We have a projection that, once fully operational, C&B will be able to achieve sales of between 4 and 5 JVs per month, increasing by the end of 2012 to something like 7 or 8 JVs per month. This, of course, will hasten the return of monies to you all.

It would be foolhardy for us to embark on this epic journey of reuniting investors with their hard earned money, without emphasising once again that success depends on you - the investors. Taking civil action against C&B will result in nobody realising a return on their investment; so please remain patient & we are entirely confident the mission will succeed.

We would like to get your written consent in place by the 30th April 2011, but we will be starting work with immediate effect, as we do not want to incur a time-lag. It is anticipated that the first profits from the C&B JV will commence within six (6) months. You will appreciate that certain creditors, such as Council Tax & Utility companies must be paid as a priority due to their lack of understanding (or interest) in what we are aiming to achieve. Hence why we feel we are not in a position to promise that we will start paying down the debt until July 2012. Please remember these are deliberately pessimistic timescales, so promises are adhered to. If we under-promise and over-achieve, that’s all to the good; if we over-promise and disappoint, you will not thank us.

We look forward to speaking with you all during the coming weeks. Should you wish to be given further information, please feel free to contact either Davey or myself.

Once again, many thanks to each & every one of you for your patience & understanding & together we will make this happen.

The contents of this letter have been fully approved by the newly-formed ‘board of investors’.

Kind Regards
Liam Collins
David Bone

Collins & Bone Partnership
Tel: +44 (0) 844 811 7570
Mob: 07891294502

==============================================================================


From: Robert Wakefield [mailto:robert.wakefield@wysi.co.uk]
Sent: <march 2011>
To: <investor>
Subject: Investor update from the 'Board'


Dear <investor>
Welcome to the first investor update of many that you will be receiving from the new intermediary board that Liam and Davey have mentioned to you in their last update.

Conscious that you are wanting to hear more about this 'board' and the financial situation in general regarding your investment with Collins & Bone, this update comes from board members Robert Wakefield and Joe Sinagoga. We felt it was more expedient to get a communication out to you today, even if it is only from 'half a board'.

In future communications, you will hear from the other board members as well.

Here is Joe's introduction:-

Hello <investor>

My name is Joe Sinagoga; some of you may well know me through my property networking & attendance at various mentorship programmes.

I have a small portfolio of Buy To Let properties, mainly in the North East of England and, like so many investors back in the early part of the last decade, saw long-term property investment as a sensible alternative to Pension contributions.

I got involved with The (then) CBS Group and later with the Collins & Bone Partnership in 2008. Investing in their Trailblazer Student Scheme; I thought the model to be a good one, only to later find that the 85% LTV mortgage funding (along with most other mortgage products) was to become a thing of the past.

Like most investors I have become very concerned about my investment of late; however, I have kept in regular contact with Liam Collins and more latterly, Mark Black. I have been assisting in the shaping of Castle & Gatehouse and have witnessed the model working at firsthand, together with the painstaking diligence that has gone into making it the success that it now is.

During the past twelve months I have, like most of you, become disillusioned with Collins & Bone and the wildly optimistic forecasts that have been circulated about our investments.

I have been invited onto an intermediary board of investors, totally independent of Collins & Bone, to assist in bringing about a swift, honest & deliverable timescale for the return of monies to every single investor. Our task will not be easy, but you have my personal promise that you will only hear the facts from me – not speculation.

My background (besides property investment) is one of Sales & Marketing, having been a National Accounts Director for a major DIY manufacturing company. During the nineties I built my own powder coating business from scratch which went on to achieve an annual turnover of almost £2million.

Whilst I am a member of "the board" I make each & every one of you this promise: I will at all times endeavour to ensure that none of us in future will be fed the same old promises; that clarity & openness will be the priority. I know that the most recent correspondence has been less than palatable, but is a more accurate reflection of what can actually be achieved.

I firmly believe 100% in Liam and Davey's integrity; I would not be wasting my time if I thought their intentions were anything other than honourable.

I am happy to discuss Collins & Bone plans with you going forward and will meet with you, if you feel it appropriate.

Best wishes.

Joe Sinagoga


Hello <investor>,

Many of you will know me (at least by name) from a long time ago when I was assisting The CBS Group with finding the best Buy To Let mortgage products.  I worked tirelessly in this quest and was proud that CBS were one of the last companies in their industry sector to still have good lending deals at a time when all others had lost it.  What you were not aware of at the time perhaps is that I am one of their biggest investors. I lent money in 2007 to Liam and Davey on a promissory note, not in return for properties but purely as venture capital in return for a decent interest rate.

In 2008 and 2009 when it was clear to me that there were liquidity problems not just with The CBS Group, but generally in the whole property investment market, I decided rather than just complaining that I would become even more proactive in assisting them. My philosophy was very simple: “If they go bust I am going to lose everything my family has”. I did not get paid for the work I did for The CBS Group and worked for years helping them with advanced IT systems, websites and promotion, as well as being their banking liaison officer.

Mistakes have been made.

Do I think they have been paragons of virtue and done everything correctly? Not at all; we all know that mistakes have been made. At times they have driven me to desperation with their naivety and promises that were never fulfilled, but I have never doubted their intentions, nor do I today. A child has to fall over on rocky ground to learn that it hurts: Liam and Davey have had many falls, but the difference with them is they pick themselves up again every time. I honestly believe (without a shadow of doubt) that they have now learned from the errors of their ways and I know they have at last found their ‘light bulb’. The success of the Castle & Gatehouse model is clear proof of this: a refined business model that works every time and delivers profit and security for all.

Moving forwards for sure.

I know some of you reading this will be thinking “Well, C&G has nothing to do with me; I don’t care.” To an extent, you may be right but it is the very success of the C&G business that protects and secures your capital investment. By this I mean that while Castle & Gatehouse continues to succeed in its own right, Collins & Bone will already have replicated the model. As you know, Liam is already working hard on this right now; rightly so. I will give Liam every ounce of support that I can muster in my extremely busy schedule to ensure we all get our money back – every jack one of us. You have my personal word that I will continue to work tirelessly until we have all been repaid in full.

My background

For those of you who do not know me, my business background is largely in start-ups and small business. I am a senior partner in a rapidly developing Berkshire-based IT and digital marketing company, and I am involved in a number of interesting Joint Venture projects with entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Board

So why a ‘board’ and the question many of you will be wanting to ask: “What’s in it for the board members?”

The appointment of the intermediary board.


Clearly better communications channels needed to be established; investors want to know what is happening. As costs have been cut, and then cut again (to protect our precious monies) it leaves Liam with little or no time to actually make any money! If Liam is selling Joint Ventures and Ready Made Deals, your investment will be paid down faster. The board members have agreed to share workloads to enable Liam to get on with what he does best: selling.

How were the board members chosen and why?

The board members were chosen for their long-standing commitment and proactive support through the more difficult times for CBS and C&B. We were also appointed because we represent a wide variety of different investor types (PN, Trailblazer, old CBS, etc.). Our business backgrounds have also been taken into account when the partners chose the board members. Liam and Davey felt that it was important to select investors who have the time, background, experience and capability to actually ensure this debt is paid down as quickly as possible. We also have the most to lose; therefore it was felt we would be the most willing to put the work in.

What’s in it for us?

To see our investment repaid to us. Nothing more: no salaries, no fringe benefits, just our money back. Unpaid helpers, if you like.

How does it work?


We act as a discretionary board with full disclosure of business assets and liabilities from Collins & Bone. We help to 'manage' creditors so that everyone gets repaid. The board members will ensure fair play and reliable repayments to all investors. We will make decisions (from time to time) on how money should be spent; for example, allocating a small percentage of profits to marketing and advertising to attract more business, thus paying down more debt more quickly.

If you would like to speak to me about your investment with C&B at any time, or would like to meet up to discuss matters with me, I will do my best to accommodate you.

Kind regards,

Robert Wakefield

PS – You can email me directly at r.wakefield@wysi.co.uk

We both apologise for the length of this email update, but it is important that you know how hard everyone is working to protect your investment. We envisage future updates to be brief and to the point.



=============================================================================


From: The Intermediary Board of Investors (Collins & Bone) [mailto:robert.wakefield@wysi.co.uk]
Sent: <april 2011>
To: <investor>
Subject: Introducing John D Chart

Dear <investor>,

We'd like to introduce John Chart to you, our learned friend and 'legal' Board member! John is playing a vital role in preparing contracts, dealing with property conveyances and generally advising the board on matters legal. I think we can all feel a little safer knowing that we have our own 'resident' lawyer on the investors' board. He is a pleasure to work with and I can assure you a stickler for detail!
Robert



Here's John's introduction:-

I have at least two roles in life. I am a property lawyer of some 40 years' experience and also (with my wife) a property investor on a fairly modest scale. It was the latter which propelled us towards C & B when in early 2008 we met them at an investment property exhibition. We then attended a seminar in Manchester, viewed some recently refurbished houses and were very impressed. We then purchased 3 houses in Salford and generally advanced money to CBS.

From the autumn of 2008 buy to let mortgages were drying up and values falling. It became evident that repayment of the funds lodged plus interest would be long-delayed.

To their credit Collins & Bone were honest and up-front about the financial problem they had been faced with in trying to keep afloat, did later arrange the re-sale of two of the houses and did enter into a personal guarantee by way of promissory note to cover the debt and mortgage interest. They also offered my legal firm the opportunity to quote for conveyancing services, and indeed I have since last August been engaged in such legal work.

When matters went wrong in late 2008 it would have been easy for us to "throw the book at them". But we felt that the poblem was not of their own making, that we were all the victims of the then economic circumstances, and that their own honesty and transparency were beyond question. Rather than denigratory we were supportive and remain so to this day.

When I was invited to become a member of the intermediary board I accepted, as I believe that there is a role for me in assisting C & B being nursed back to good health and bringing about a return to profits and repayment of the debts to all.

Being on the intermediary board assists in my being able to keep tabs on the organisation, its strengths and weaknesses and ability to deliver.

I am conscious that I wear 3 hats: those of investor, solicitor and intermediary board member - in theory not easy to reconcile, but I believe I can rise to the challenge!

Kind regards,
John D. Chart


=============================================================================


From: The Intermediary Board of Investors (Collins & Bone) [mailto:robert.wakefield@wysi.co.uk]
Sent: <april 2011>
To: <investor>
Subject: April Update from the Board of Investors
The Intermediary Board of Collins & Bone Investors


April 2011 Update

Dear <investor>,


The purpose of these newsletter updates is for us, the Board, to keep in regular touch with you as we oversee the repayment of investors' money. We promised you all that we would be back in touch later this month with a full update on how things are going, and we have lots to report.

An overwhelmingly positive and supportive response.

Many of you will have received a call from Liam over the last few days/ weeks and Robert has also spoken to many of you. The response from you all has been a very positive message of support, albeit with understandable concerns.

Investors united!

The response to the creation of the Board and the proposals to now ring-fence your cash has been a resounding sigh of relief. Many of you have expressed how relieved you have felt just to know that something really is being done to redress the situation, and Liam & Davey would like to thank you all for your positive feedback, support and co-operation.

In it together. . .

We're all in this together folks, whether we like it or not. The recent messages have, we know, been bitter pills to swallow but we simply must unite as investors and work together for our own good.

The next steps. . .

Collins & Bone will very soon be able to start trading properties; The wysi Partnership have been setting up databases, marketing channels and other promotional activities. However, trading cannot (and will not) start until the debt is brought under control. The only way to do this has been the issue of the extended Promissory Notes, relieving the Partnership of the exposure to bankruptcy - which as we all know would result in each and every one of us losing our hard-earned cash.
Once the new Loan Deeds (contracts) are all back in to Collins & Bone and duly signed, trading can start very quickly. It is that trading (and the exponential growth in trading) that will generate the profits that will see our investments coming back to us all.
Your Loan Deed is awaiting you at the following secure server location:-

https://collinsandbone.worldsecuresystems.com
Your username is <removed> and your password is <removed> (with a zero, not a letter o).

Once logged in, you will be to access your Loan Deed in PDF format. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader, you will be able to download the software freely from the official Adobe website here.

Instructions on how to send the Loan Deed back to Collins & Bone can be found once you have logged in. Please do not send your signed Deed to The Board of Investors: we are not your debtors!

Thank you all again for your united support and enabling us to move forwards with this very difficult, but vitally important, task. We hope to be able to send another update later this month as we have run out of space (and time) and there are questions from many of you that we (the Board) would like to answer.

Kind regards,

Robert Wakefield, John Chart, Joe Sinagoga (who is abroad at present).


==============================================================================


From: The Intermediary Board of Investors (Collins & Bone) [mailto:robert.wakefield@wysi.co.uk]
Sent: <may 2011>
To: <investor>
Subject: May update from the Board of Investors
The Intermediary Board of Collins & Bone Investors

May 2011 Update
    

Dear <investor>,

We've quite a bit to update you on since we last emailed, so let's get straight in.

Communications.

Many of you have emailed me of late asking for an update and I apologise if you have not always received a personalised reply: Personally, I see this as our biggest challenge, not the repayment of the debt! I hope you will all understand when I say I am one man, with a full-time business to run and whilst I work 16 and 17 hours a day, I simply do not have the time to give personalised and detailed replies to emails. Please remember that the monthly newsletters are for just that, and I trust you will understand; this is a preventitive measure to stop the men in white coats taking me away!

A huge thank you.

We've received the vast majority of the Loan Deeds back now, duly signed and sealed. Joe has kindly offered to be responsible for the safe-keeping of these in his vault at a secret location somewhere near Gatwick Airport. The procedure for the Loan Deeds, in case anyone is still unclear, is to check your contract is correct, notify Robert if any changes need to be made (please give clear details of changes required), and then send back to us as follows:-

Email (scanned copy) to robert@wysi.co.uk
Hard copy (snail mail) to J. Sinagoga, 103 Ifield Drive, Crawley, West Sussex. RH11 0EA
(Oh drat! bang goes that secret location!)

You should keep the original in a safe place.

Not returned your Loan Deed yet?

If you have not yet returned your Loan Deed, it may be because you have forgotten all about it, or you may have questions about it. Please do ask us for advice if you are unsure; remember we are not Collins & Bone: we are investors, just like you. We believe the Loan Deed, which was prepared by a lawyer and Collins & Bone investor gives increased security over anything hitherto offered by CBS/ Collins & Bone and there is honestly no reason why anyone should be reluctant to sign it.

What happens next?

We've been working with Collins & Bone to prepare for our first deal. We believe we have several potential Joint Venture partners lined up, and there is certainly no shortage of suitable properties. Davey is very excited about some of the deals coming through sourcing and we can't wait to start! But we do have to wait: we need all the Loan Deeds signed and returned before trading will begin, so if you are one of those investors who has not yet sent yours back, please do so as soon as possible.

Remember, we have published some FAQs at the following location, which you may have forgotten about:

https://collinsandbone.worldsecuresystems.com

Your username is <removed> and your password is <removed> (with a zero, not a letter o).

Why do all Loan Deeds need to be back before trading can start?

This is a protection for us investors - nothing more and nothing less than that. As you all know, we're all in the same boat. A few months ago it looked like the Titanic, now we have enough life boats. To render this rescue plan safe, we need all investors onside.

Financials, accounting, investor management and updates.

I've now completed the migration of all Collins & Bone investor data across to my own systems, and have set up accounting software which now shows your outstanding balances, correct as at 31.12.2010. This is an important step, because our accounting software will now track every payment that is made to each of you/ us and show the declining balance over the loan term. We will be asking you to confirm/ update bank details with us (the Board) as it is us who will be paying you on behalf of C&B. Please don't all rush at once to provide these: we will email you when are ready to do a mass import of bank data into the program.

Because we are now just days off starting to trade, investor updates will drop back to 3 monthly after the July newsletter. Your updates will contain a brief summary of deals done, gross profits and costs, so you will see hands-on what is happening and how well things are going.

Opportunities for all.

If you would like to earn generous commissions from referring or introducing investors to the new-look Collins & Bone, where the investment is 100% protected, please contact one of us. You can also earn very good commissions from sourcing properties. You will be paid by the Board.

Have a great long weekend everyone, and we'll update you again in June - hopefully to say we've done our first deal(s)!


Kind regards,

Robert Wakefield and Joe Sinagoga.
==============================================================================


From: Collins and Bone <robert.wakefield@wysi.co.uk>
To: <investor>

Sent: <June 2011>
Subject: May/June update to Collins & Bone investors


Collins & Bone Investors' June Newsletter

May/ June 2011 Update




Dear <investor>,

Welcome to your first proper communication and update regarding your investment with Collins and Bone.

Communications.

As you will already know, The Collins and Bone Partnership have an excellent business model of sourcing, renovating and tenanting properties for landlords and other property investors. One thing they've not been particularly good at (and a few people have mentioned this) is communication! As an investor and business owner myself, I wanted to analyse what it was that a). made Collins and Bone so different, and b). what their weaknesses were (and how these could be improved upon).

It seemed to me that the partners and staff are so involved in the day-to-day running of the business that they simply did not have time to stand back and take a birds-eye view. Davey is on the road every day of the week, sourcing and managing renovations; Liam is busy dealing with sales and marketing.

Unfortunately, people remember weaknesses more than they remember strengths! So a fellow investor (Joe Sinagoga) and I decided we would take the plunge and give the boys a hand with all the stuff they don't do very well, leaving them to get on with what they do really well. It's been a mammoth challenge, and we're still in the transitional stage. So please, please bear with us over the next few weeks.

We have formed a new limited company, called St. Giles Asset Management Limited, and going forwards, we will handle customer relations and marketing. As investors ourselves, we are naturally motivated to make a success of this, and we want to deliver a very high standard of service to all investors.

We plan to increase profitability through Collins and Bone by improved marketing. I own a digital marketing and web development company, and Joe has a rich background in property investment and networking. A new website for St. Giles is being built as I write and will be going live very soon. My web company will also be using advanced IT systems to manage the business, accounting, communications and projects.

Pipelines and bottlenecks.

The marketing skills of St Giles were called upon after many of the assets being sold fell through after the Irish economic crisis. Their was a bottleneck for a while and with that some cash flow issues did arise. These are now being corrected and constant improvement is our aim.

Accounting has also been an issue with the management accounts being transferred from a previous company to St. Giles. Data feeds and sources need to be synchronised; financial accounts and bank statements need to be reconciled. Even getting the new bank accounts open and online banking access has proven to be a longer winded process than was foreseen.

The outlook for student and buy-to-let property.
In the past decade this market has emerged from a niche, to a highly in-demand investment class as investors look to build wealth in a market now under-served.

There is still a lack of high-quality accommodation for students. Independent research from Knight Frank shows that only 50% of students in the UK have access to high-quality accommodation, with 2.4 million students expected to apply for degrees in 2011.

The student property market is widely seen as the largest untapped real estate market in Western Europe. Only 23% of the demand for student beds is met by university maintained properties, while demand for university places has risen.

According to Knight Frank, student rentals have recorded growth of 5% over the last six years, compared to only 0.6% growth in commercial property.

Now is a great time to start investing in this market.
Keeping you informed.
We are now very close to launching our new product (which will combine the synergy between sourcing, renovations, lettings and sales of C&B properties). We will continue to update you on a regular basis to let you know how everything is going. Updates will contain a brief summary of deals done, gross profits and costs, so you will see hands-on what is happening and how well your investment is doing.

Opportunities for all.

If you would like to earn generous commissions from referring or introducing investors to the new-look Collins & Bone, where the investment is 100% protected, please contact one of us. You can also earn very good commissions from sourcing properties. You will be paid by St. Giles Asset Management Limited, not Collins and Bone.

We'll update you again in July - hopefully to say we've done our first deal(s)!

Kind regards,

Robert Wakefield and Joe Sinagoga.
==============================================================================
From: Robert Wakefield & Joe Sinagoga [mailto:noreply@sgaml.co.uk]
Sent: October 2011
To: <investor>
Subject: October Newsletter
Re. Collins & Bone

Dear Investor,

We realise it has been a number of weeks since we have been in a position to update you.

Both Rob & Joe have been in frequent discussions with the partners, obtaining up to the minute information whenever we can.

We understand that the partners will be calling all investors next week with a full update.

The partners both wish to thank you for your continued support & patience at this time.

Would all investors please note that Robert will be completely indisposed with effect from Monday 31st, as he is going into hospital. A further update will follow when he has fully recuperated.

Regards,

Joe Sinagoga & Robert Wakefield




==============================================================================
From: Liam Collins [mailto:liam@collinsandbone.com]
Sent: 01 November 2011 17:03
To: Liam Collins
Subject: Collins & Bone November 2011 Update
Dear Investors,
Please accept my apologies that this update has taken a while coming.
As many of you may know we have been working diligently for 2 years now to get a £20m property fund underway. The client paid £150k for the contracts to be written which demonstrated they were serious. They also asked us to complete a 3 house trial piece to demonstrate that the business model worked.

The client provided the funds to purchase 3 houses. We renovated them, let them and sold them in the 6 month period as per the agreement. The project was completed on budget and delivered a 20% return over 6 months for the client. They confirmed in July in a meeting with us in France that the deal was going to begin in September.
September came and it became evident that they were waiting for their bank (Investec) to secure the lending in order to progress the deal. In October we have now been told that they cannot get the lending at the rate they wished for and so want to put the deal on hold until they can. 
We are not holding our breath any longer on this as we are all aware that lending is getting tighter by the day. The reason C&B issued Promissory Notes was to sidestep the volatility of the lending market for a short period until the lending resumed from the highstreet banks. With lending now not coming through at all and recent bills which have just been passed in Parliament have now insisted banks remain as liquid as possible meaning any future bank lending looks bleak to say the least. 
As a result we are now in a situation where a handful of PNs have now matured and the investors have asked for these to be returned. Our liquidity, not dissimilar from banks at present, does not allow us to do so. We have explained this to the investors, however we are expecting further defaults on our PNs this year and more investors expecting their capital to be returned. 
We have taken legal advice from a top practice and they have explained that we cannot now prioritise one investor over another due to the overdue PNs which have a negative effect on the solvency of the partnership. We must treat all investors (creditors) equally.
This leaves us with limited choices::

1.       David and I declare ourselves bankrupt. - For all this would wipe our debt it would also result in us losing our homes and all of our assets. This is not a route we will be taking.

2.       Go into what is called an IVA. By doing this it will protect all investors against the threat of bankruptcy but it means we have to make a repayment plan. This is a positive to those who want their cash back but a negative to those who just wish for their interest as it means interest would stop and repayment would unlikely begin before the end of 2012. The other negative of this is that to offer a realistic payment plan based on cashflow projections we would have to offer as little as 20p on the pound back and this would also take into consideration how much you invested and how much you have had back in terms of interest. So if you invested £10k and have had £1k in interest the IVA practitioner would likely only offer 20p in the pound for the £9k outstanding. The final negative is that the repayment plan should we be successful would be over 5 years minimum.

3.       We feel that the best option is for all investors to sign up to a 5 year repayment plan beginning July 2012. This would allow us time to build up our profits and liquidity and then if we are able to repay the debt down faster we can do but it will protect you all from the threat of anyone issuing a statutary demand for full and final amount or petitioning for bankruptcy.
4.       For those who are in a position to do so, we feel the best option is to trade their way out of the issue. It is possible at present for us to trade debt for equity with our investors via various routes but please email me personally and I will go through this option with you.
The good news is that we do have some options long before we look at IVA or Bankruptcy but in order to get from where we are now to putting solutions in place we must achieve 100% cooperation from all investors. It only takes one investor who has had one late interest payment or one investor who has not had their capital returned when asked to have it returned to petition for bankruptcy and everyone would lose their investment and we would lose everything we have all worked so hard for. 

I’m sure that some of you will be concerned that this email will cause a “run on the bank” to use a term which applies to banks when people all ask for the savings to be returned. The point of this email is to explain that we do not have the cash flow to pay anyone anything back at present. The reason for this is that we have geared everything for the fund to start in September and now that we have been told it isn’t we are running the small company overheads we have now on the tiny reserves we have left. For us to trade out of this and repay everyone we must be allowed in the eyes of the law to trade and if we do not get 100% of our investors to sign a new repayment plan which is realistic then we are still in an insolvent position due to overdue expired PNs which are legal threats to everyone’s investment and force C&B into a position of insolvency where we cannot solicit new business.  

So either myself or David will be calling each of you this week and next week in order to discuss the best solutions for you in this. We are prepared to lose everything ourselves if it means protecting you all as we have committed to that from the start but at present due to the lack of equity and cash flow in the portfolio we cannot sell the assets we have and it is not even fair to call them assets at this moment in time.  

To reiterate we are still in a position where this can be fixed but it requires 100% cooperation. We do not want to lose our homes and you do not want to lose your investment. We have worked the last 10 years to build up this family company and we do not want to lose it. Some of you may have taken longer than 10 years to build up the sum of money you have invested and I am sure you cannot afford to lose that either.  

I apologize for the stress this will cause people but all we can do is work our absolute hardest to firstly make sure you investment is safe and secondly find a solution to pay back ideally your investment plus interest owed and worst case your investment. We are not interested in offering 20p on the pound to any of you as you deserve all of your investment back but you must realize that if one of you is to bankrupt us at this stage that option is taken out of our hands.  

I urge you all to look at the story on the internet about Andy Shaw who had a property investment company, wanted to pay everyone back after the recession crippled his company and one person could not wait so they bankrupted him. Once bankrupt it is illegal to then repay creditors individually so his debt is now wiped and he has moved on. 

We are asking you all kindly to work with us and think not about us but about the other investors who all have worked hard for their money they have invested with us.  

If I could pray for the ultimate outcome from this it would go like this.

1) We get 100% of the investors to agree to a 5 year repayment plan, all signed and therefore no threats. We achieve the same with other minor creditors also.

2) We can then solicit new business and trade our way out of it meanwhile for those who can afford to trade their way out of it and become one of our new investors into the trading model whereby you do not actually pay anything until our services are complete thus minimising the risk. If we could achieve this then I would be very confident we can get through this.  If however the result of this email is panic and legal battles it could be a quick end to C&B and a fire sale of our assets which would achieve nothing all round.
Help us achieve the first option and we can get on with business and for those of you who have already signed up to 5 year plans may we take this opportunity to thank you again for your support.

Kind Regards

Liam Collins

No comments:

Post a Comment