Horse & Hound – 01 August 2019

(coco) #1

8 Horse & Hound 1 August 2019


Pictures


by


Peter


Nixon,


Bill


Selwyn,


lucindafredericks.com


and


trevor-meeks-photography.co.uk


NEWSInsider


Jockey To m
Garner won
the Grade One
steeplechase
at Saratoga
racecourse in the
USA on 25 July. Tom rode Winston
C,who was trained by Jonathan
Sheppard.

Paradressage
riderSuzanna
Hextwona
goldmedalin
theMC50m
freestyleatthe
BritishSwimmingsummer
championshipsfinal.Shesaidshe
“can’t believe it”.

Showingrider
RoryGilsenan
wonthesupreme
workinghunter
championship
onAtlanticSlim
attheRoyalInternationalHorse
Show.Roryis beingtreatedfora
brain tumour, diagnosed in 2018.

PEOPLE
IN THE NEWS

RIDERShavebeenwarned
againstbuyinghorsesfroma yard
involvedintheLondonCapital&
Finance(LCF)fraudinvestigation
astheycouldbeseized.
Itis thoughtsomehorses
ownedbyFSEquestrianServices
(FSE),formerlynamedRiver
LodgeEquestrianCentreUK,
andusedassecurityfora £10m
loanmayhavebeensold.But
LCF’sadministratorsSmith&
Williamsonhavewarnedasits
responsibilityis torecoverthe
moneyowed,it couldpotentially
takethesehorsesinfuture.
H&HhasreportedthatLCF,
whicharrivedonthesceneas
a sponsorofa numberofhorse
trialslastyear,haditsassets
frozenaspartofa Financial
ConductAuthority(FCA)
investigation(news, 31 January).
LCFissuedmini-bondsto
some11,600investors,whose
moneywaslenttocorporate
borrowers;theFCAhadconcerns
onhowtheyweremarketed.

TheSeriousFraudOfficehasmadearrestsasit looksinto


theactionsofa businessinvolvedintheequestrianworld


Asa resultmainlyoftheorder
toceasetrading,LCFwentinto
administration,andSmith&
Williamsonis investigating.
“Wehavebeeninformedthat
FSEoperatesasanequestrian
businessspecialisinginselection
ofhorsesforcompetingin
eventingandshowjumping,”the
administrators’reportreads.
“LCForiginallyenteredinto
a loanfacilityagreementwith
SpencerGoldingtradingas
HomeFarmEquestrianCentre,
Crowborough,on 20 November
2015.Thefacilityagreement
providedfundingofupto£15m.
ByAugust2017,SpencerGolding
becameliablefora debtof
£10,439,062duetothecompany.
“InJanuary2017,FSE,then
RiverLodge,wasincorporated
andinOctober2017,FSEentered
intoa loanagreementwithLCFin
theamountof£20m.Webelieve

thatloantoSpencerGoldingwas
transferredtoFSEinthebooks
ofLCFandweareinvestigating
whetherthatis indeedthecase.”
Joint-administratorColin
HardmantoldH&HSmith
& Williamsonis responsible
forrecoveringvalueforthe
bondholders,whomhedescribed
as“JoePublic”,ratherthan

seasonedinvestors,whowould
feelthelossoftheirmoneyhard.
“FSEis indefaultregardingits
loan,andintermsofitssecurity,
that’sthehorses,”hesaid.
“Becausewe’vegotthat
security,thatgivesusthe
righttoputthecompanyinto
administration,butbeforethat,
wenormallytrytoestablishwhat’s

ByELEANORJONES


Warning over buying horses


involved in fraud investigation


happening with the company.
“In the loan agreement, there
are conditions on providing
information, such as how many
horses and their value, to ensure
that value is adequate, but broadly
speaking, FSE management isn’t
helping with our enquiries. We
don’t know how many horses
there are, and have concerns some
may have been sold.”

RECOVERING VALUE
MR HARDMAN explained
the value of anything used as
security must be higher than
the amount lent, to allow for
value depreciation and costs of
recovering money, for example,
and if horses are sold, the
collective value will drop.
“An extreme situation is that if
they sold them all, there would be
no value left in our investment,”
he said. “There should be concern
for anyone who buys horses, or
other assets, from a company in
administration as they could be
recovered by the administrators,
potentially to the buyer’s
detriment. We’re putting the
equestrian community on notice.”
Mr Hardman said FSE shares
premises with Spencer Golding,
trading as Home Farm. Mr
Golding is subject to a restraint
order imposed by the Serious

FraudOffice(SFO),which
effectively prevents him selling
any assets without court consent.
The SFO said four people
had been arrested and released
pending further investigation.
The FCA said an independent
investigation into “relevant
events” relating to the FCA’s
regulation of LCF is ongoing.

Horses sold by the company concerned
could be recovered by administrators

‘We’re putting the equestrian


community on notice’
JOINT-ADMINISTRATOR COLIN HARDMAN
Free download pdf