Beaumont Vintners bankrupt, few assets

Wine investment company Beaumont Vintners went into liquidation on 5 April.

Beaumont: £30,000-£40,000 assets

The deficiency is understood to be £1.5m and there are apparently few assets.

Beaumont Vintners customers placed orders for £0.6m-£0.7m for 2009 Bordeaux en primeur. The company, however, only ordered and paid for between £30,000-£40,000 of wine.

Decanter.com understands from one of the liquidators, Nedim Ailyan of Abbott Fielding, that these are currently thought to be Beaumont’s sole assets.

Accountancy firm Grant Thornton will be leading the investigative side of the liquidation, looking into the conduct of the company’s management and attempting to follow the money trail.

The directorship of the company is opaque: Samuel Philips was the sole director, appointed in November last year on the resignation of Stephen Carpenter, who remained a signatory. Another director, Richard Evans, resigned in February 2011.

Decanter.com understands that during the creditors’ meeting on 5 April, Philips declined to name those who actually ran the company, which was set up in June 2010.

Decanter.com also understands it was clear from the meeting that Philips was a nominal or patsy director as he was not a signatory to the company bank account.

Alexander Barclay Wines, a follow-up company with Philips as the sole director, has applied to be struck off the UK companies register.

In another case, five months into the liquidation of Bordeaux UK, also being handled by Nedim Ailyan, there are as yet no definite figures for the deficiency – the value of the assets and what return creditors can expect.

Creditors’ claims amount to between £8m and £10m, while assets consist of between £300,000 and £400,000 worth of stock in bond, plus £2m of Bordeaux 2009 bought en primeur.

Creditors, many of them elderly, are likely to get 30p per pound.

Written by Jim Budd