A former high flyer in the Tech boom days - I bought back in at an average around 30p after it was obvious they had more cash than cap - took a few profits in the fifties but held most for a cash back deal but one day found them suspended with the cash missing .... a few peeps over on the dark side had a good laugh but I like the last laugh and maybe that's not far away ....


ains





Orb poised to strike deal with Izodia over 33m
By Simon Goodley (Filed: 22/02/2003) Telegraph


Izodia and Orb Estates, the two companies at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into 33m of missing cash, are understood to be on the verge of agreeing a settlement.

The deal, which is thought to have been provisionally agreed by both parties, has been struck just as Orb was to be ordered by a Jersey court to reveal the whereabouts of the missing funds, which disappeared from Izodia's account last year. A hearing had been provisionally scheduled for yesterday.

Orb is thought to have agreed to repay the missing cash, plus costs and interest, although timescales are not clear. Sources speculated last night that the deal could lead Orb into a sale of the 37 hotels it bought from Thistle Hotels for 600m last March.

Despite the deal, the SFO's investigation - which is separate from the Jersey hearing - continues. Its officers raided Orb's premises in December after receiving "an allegation of unlawful appropriation of funds" belonging to Izodia.

Orb is the largest shareholder in Izodia, a former software company which has been reduced to a cash shell. Izodia's only two directors during the period being investigated were Jarlath Vahey and Peter Catto, both of whom have ties to Orb.

Orb denies any wrongdoing.

Izodia admitted last month that most of its remaining 33m cash pile is no longer under its control. The exact whereabouts of the funds is still unknown, although the majority of the money - thought to be around 27m - was transferred to associate companies of Orb.

Both companies declined to comment last night.

Any sale of the hotels acquired by Orb from Thistle would add to the activity in a sector which is already at the centre of consolidation and merger speculation.

Coincidentally Singapore investment group BIL International yesterday said it might make an offer for the 54pc of Thistle Hotels it does not already own.

BIL, controlled by Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan, said it was considering paying a modest premium to Thistle's closing share price of 98.5p on Wednesday.

Thistle shares closed up 7.5 at 107.5p.

03/21 19:05
Orb to Sell 37 Thistle Hotels Worth $1.4 Bln to Allan Rankin
By Mark Deen


London, March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Orb Estates Plc, a U.K. real estate company, said it agreed to sell 37 Thistle hotels, worth more than 900 million pounds ($1.4 billion), to a company controlled by millionaire entrepreneur Allan Rankin.

The hotels, including the Thistle Kensington Palace in London, are managed by Thistle Hotels Plc. Thistle ``guarantees to provide not less than 45 million pounds of clear income to the owners,'' Orb said in a Regulatory News Service statement.

The hotels were ``recently valued in excess of 900 million pounds,'' Orb said in the statement, without giving terms of the sale to Rankin. Orb bought the properties from Thistle for 600.4 million pounds in March last year.

European hotels are attracting investors even as room prices and occupancy rates decline because they offer higher returns than stocks, according to a DTZ Holdings Plc report this month.

Orb, which borrowed the money from Morgan Stanley to buy the hotels last year, has defaulted on two loans and wants to sell the hotels, Morgan Stanley said in a letter to bondholders obtained by Bloomberg News last month.

Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's have said they may cut some of the ratings on a 531 million-pound Orb hotel bond. Morgan Stanley underwrote the bonds last year after lending Orb money to buy the hotels. Orb used the bond issue to repay Morgan Stanley.

Allan Rankin and his family control Ultimate Leisure Plc, which owns a string of themed bars and night clubs in northern England, and Mentor Plc, a U.K. engineering company.

There are lots of big companies equally interested in the cash and where it goes ......



Jamie Doward, deputy business editor
Sunday March 23, 2003
The Observer

Jersey-based Orb Estates, currently the subject of a Serious Fraud Office investigation, faces further controversy after the sale of its Thistle hotel

portfolio to Allan Rankin, a Tyneside-based multi-millionaire. It has emerged that Rankin is a close business associate of an Orb adviser censured by the Takeover Panel for failing to disclose his links with Orb.
The SFO is looking into the disappearance of 33 million belonging to failed dotcom firm Izodia, in which Orb has a 29 per cent stake. The money was transferred into an account of an Orb associate company, although it is not clear where it is now. Izodia's shareholders gave Orb until last Monday to come up with the cash and have now started legal proceedings.

The hotels sale may raise concerns among Izodia's investors, who will be surprised by the news. Several other firms were circling the hotel chain, which Orb bought last year for 600m. But, in a shock move, Rankin has stolen a lead. Under the deal the Thistle chain's debt and financing structures will be transferred to Rankin's offshore company, Incontrast.

This would separate the hotels from Orb Estates and its liabilities, raising concerns over what claims - if any - Izodia's shareholders may have on the sold-off assets. Orb has so far failed to say what it will do with the cash.

The deal will draw attention to serial entrepreneur Jon Pither, who has strong links with Orb and Rankin.

Pither was ousted as Izodia's chairman when shareholders complained to the Takeover Panel that he was not suitably independent to advise the company on an indicative bid by Orb. Shareholders were alarmed when they learnt Pither was a non-executive director of Abingdon Capital, an adviser to Orb.

In addition, he has a place on the board of Prestige Travel, with Orb director Charles Helvert, and was once a director of Orb-backed oil exploration firm Atlantic Caspian Resources, along with former Orb director Peter Catto. Catto resigned as an Izodia director last year, as did another of its executives, Jarlath Vahey, who also had connections with Orb.

Now it has emerged that Pither sits on the board of two companies run by Rankin - Ultimate Leisure and Metnor Group - raising fresh questions over the tangled nature of Orb's business relationships. An Orb spokeswoman said: 'We don't talk to journalists.' Rankin and Helvert declined to return calls. Pither was uncontactable at the time of going to press.

It seems I've been a bit slow to pick up that this thread is kinda linked to the Thistle thread! But I've found it at last!

There seem to be some really dodgy people running these companies (and getting away with it?)

Yes ..... as it happens I still had a holding when they took the money from the bank account and the shares were suspended ..... a strange situation but hopefully the lawyers are getting to the point of seizing assets and getting a few peeps inside.


ains

Hmm, thanks for that, ains. Sold my shares in Ultimate Leisure and Metnor (as well as Izodia) last year, but I've been watching the first two with a view to possibly getting back in at some point. The news that Pither is chairman of both (and is the same Pither who was involved with Izodia) makes me think there could be safer places to put the money.

I would be very careful with all these guys - also connections with a few others I suspect. Nothing from the police yet


ains

Talk is that legal moves have been put on hold whilst Orb sell their Thistle Hotels .... settlement is said to be weeks away rather than months - ORB still deny any wrong doing ...... hmmmmmmm


ains

Change of directorship announced - Measham has resigned and replaced with Christopher Mills from Hambro



ains

but where's the ca$hpile ?

Diogenes. Thanks for that info re Pither - Very worrying as Metnor is (now probably was) on my watch list. If he is indeed involved could the cloak of Robert Maxwell have fallen upon his shoulders?

This story is like a wild goose chase

Orb Estates Plc, which borrowed money from Morgan Stanley to buy 32 Thistle hotels including the Thistle Kensington Palace in London, has defaulted on two loans and wants to sell its hotels, Morgan Stanley said.

``Orb recently decided to exit the hotel business and is currently in discussions with a number of potential purchasers,'' the second-largest securities firm told Orb bondholders this week, according to a letter dated Feb. 17 obtained by Bloomberg News.

Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's said they may cut some of the ratings on a 531 million-pound ($848 million) Orb hotel bond. Morgan Stanley underwrote the bonds last year after lending Orb money to buy the hotels from Thistle Hotels Plc, a hotel operator. Orb used the bond issue to repay Morgan Stanley.

Gerald Smith, a spokesman for Orb, declined to comment.

``Morgan Stanley can confirm a letter went out to bondholders this week concerning a number of matters related to the Orb group,'' said Alexander Northcott, a Morgan Stanley spokesman.

Last year the bonds, issued by Orb affiliate HOTELoC, received the highest possible rating of AAA at both rating companies, the same grade as the U.K. government, because they were backed by Thistle hotel revenues. Many companies come to the asset-backed market because it's easier to borrow when promising lenders revenues as collateral.

Orb defaulted on two loans to Morgan Stanley and one of its affiliates, according to the bank's letter. If the hotels aren't sold ``in a timely manner,'' Morgan Stanley may appoint a receiver to protect its loans, the letter said.

Shortfall

``Moody's has learned that there may be a shortfall of as much as 11 million pounds in the funding of one or more accounts of the borrower,'' the company said in a statement.

The sale of hotels might also be bad news for bondholders, because Orb had planned to convert three hotels near Hyde Park into high-priced condominiums, according to Moody's. A new owner might not follow those plans, the rating company said.

``With a change in ownership, we need to figure out what's going to happen,'' said Moody's analyst Charles Gamm. The hotels slated for conversion were Lancaster Gate Thistle, Kensington Palace Thistle, and Kensington Park Thistle, he said.

In its letter, Morgan Stanley told investors it hired an outside auditor, Ernst & Young LLP, to review cash flows set aside for bondholders.

The letter mentioned ``adverse publicity'' about an investigation by the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office into Orb affiliates, and lawsuits brought against members of the Orb Group.

The SFO is investigating allegations by a member of the Orb Group that funds were misappropriated, said Jina Roe, an SFO spokeswoman, in a telephone interview. The SFO and police searched addresses in London and Jersey, she said.

Morgan Stanley in its letter said a sale of the hotels ``should not adversely impact'' the bonds

that sounds like old news snappy - when was it dated?


ains

it is old news just like this company is ains.

hmmmmmmmm ....... I really do not think you sould attempt to mislead people with old news snappy .... it's rather irritating and of no interest to anyone

don't be daft old fruit, this one is suspended and will probably stay that way.

:-o

I am neither a fruit nor old and it doesn't matter to you whether they stay suspended or not ..... but still no reason for you to post old news to try and mislead people ..... get a life

Oh ainsey old fruit there is no reason for your negative reaction

:-o

"I bought in at around 30p" !!!!

ROTFLMAO !!!!

On every bulletin board there is for the last 5 years
you have been long in these and in particular on Market
Eye from prices 7 downwards :-))

Keep up the lies ainsoph...you will never win !!!!

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duh ..... i bought a few at 30p and sold at over 30 ..... not a bad trade :-))

LOL !!!!!

You just cannot help yourself can you Keith !!!

The lies just flow :-))

When will it end ???

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