In August, the Takeover Appeal Board ordered Balfour-Lynn to compensate investors for the ‘deceit and wrongdoing’ it uncovered at the property investment firm he ran.
The tycoon, who co-founded Balfour Winery in Kent, said he did not ‘have the means’ to pay such ‘high levels’ of compensation.
He has now been forced to file for bankruptcy. ‘I have never anticipated being in this position, and I have met all my debts throughout my life,’ Balfour-Lynn told The Times.
The 71-year-old businessman made his fortune in property and retail. Balfour-Lynn previously owned Liberty, the department store located on Regent Street in London.
He was the CEO of a property investment firm called MWB Group, which ran Liberty, plus the Hotel du Vin and Malmaison hotel chains. The company also provided serviced office accommodation throughout the UK.
The Takeover Appeal Board determined that he acted in concert with two other executives to gain control of the business, which entered administration in 2012. They allegedly concealed the extent of their shareholding from the market, and they failed to make a mandatory offer, which is required under takeover rules.
Balfour-Lynn, Jagtar Singh and Richard Aspland-Robinson were ordered to pay £33m in compensation to MWB shareholders.
Singh and Aspland-Robinson were ruled bankrupt in 2022. Balfour-Lynn appealed, claiming he could only pay £2m towards the compensation order.
However, the Takeover Panel dismissed that appeal in August. He could not pay the full compensation that the Panel demanded, so he was officially bankrupted last week.
Balfour-Lynn said ‘eligible shareholders now stand to receive nothing’ after the Panel rejected his £2m compensation proposal, which would have been funded by his wife, Leslie, an heiress to the Sega video games empire. She is now the sole owner of Balfour Winery.
‘I am semi-retired, and my wealth was tied up in MWB shares, of which I never sold any,’ said Balfour-Lynn. ‘My £2m offer would have provided relief to those impacted by the decisions I made to save my company 15 years ago, when it was at risk of imminent collapse during the financial crisis.’
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The post English wine mogul bankrupted after stock market scandal appeared first on Decanter.
Source : https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/english-wine-mogul-bankrupted-after-stock-market-scandal-549765/
