Park First CVA Meeting

As investors will know, on 25th November 2019 the Park First CVA Meeting was held.  We have waited until now to pass comment because we wanted to hear whether there is going to be a legal challenge.  We still haven’t heard, but what we do know is that there is a lot of animosity towards the Joint Administrators and the way that they steamrollered their proposals through, with scant regard for due process and the interests of investors.

Our previous articles seen here, cover the fact that the Joint Administrators issued false statements to investors which they only corrected at the very last minute.  It was then too late for investors to register their objections.  The Joint Administrators also refused to release the creditor list to investor representatives so that investors were unable to join together to voice their objections to the CVA.  The list was only released late in the day when the court instructed the Joint Administrators to do so.  Yet whilst investors were kept in the dark about each other, the Park First organisation was encouraged to email and phone investors making false statements and lobbying for support.  It is no wonder that the Joint Administrators’ CVA proposal was waved through on the day.

However, that was not without controversy.  Many investors have reported that it was a car crash of a meeting with the Joint Administrators unable to answer even the most basic questions.  This is not the end of the process.  It is only the beginning and investors will have more opportunities to force an investigation.  This Park First CVA meeting will be followed by more in the future as investors continue to force the issue.

It’s fair to say that the Joint Administrators have not covered themselves in glory.  We have been inundated with comments from investors.  Some attended the meeting and others are just angry at the underhand methods employed.  It beggars belief that the Joint Administrators were not able to provide independent verification of the votes cast and they just expected investors to take their word for it.  These are the Administrators who can’t find £115m and falsely told investors that they would lose £33m if they didn’t support their CVA proposal. 

We will leave the last word to a couple of investors who wrote to us. Here are their comments:

“Regarding the Park First meeting held on the 25th. It seemed to be another inconclusive shambles with attending investors not being able to get questions answered or votes independently counted/checked.

Surely this scam should not be allowed to continue and the FCA and fraud agency Action Fraud should become involved on behalf of protection for investors.

Investors like myself need help and the owner Toby Whittaker removed. [He should] be forced to account for £230M of our money.  Please help”.

And one from another investor who pulls no punches.  The email below was sent to Finnbar O’Connell of Smith and Williamson.

“We all know the voting was rigged, group first directors, contacted investors asking and influencing how they vote.

Sorry Finn you are scum and you know this is all wrong, all the money in the world won’t make you happy and your good reputation is none existent, the only clients you have are criminals”. 

Many investors have raised questions over the honesty and integrity of the Joint Administrators, but perhaps not in such a forceful tone.  Feelings run deep when ordinary investors are facing severe financial difficulties and large organisations run rough shod over them, seemingly without any respect for the truth or any sense of fair play.  There are no public records which provide information on how many criminals have appointed Smith and Williamson.