Barbican Bond Co No.1

BlindPig

I am trying to get in touch with other people who have invested in The Barbican Bond Co. No.1 Mini Bond. My bond ran for a 3 year duration and matured late November 2021 and I have been trying to obtain my investment and returns from them ever since. I have received email communications advising that "the security trustee has decided to enforce the security" and that asset sales are taking place to fund repayment. This was all due to be complete by April 22. My last email to them asking about repayment was sent on 23 May 22 and remains unanswered. Northern Provident Investments which provided the ISA wrapper have gone into voluntary liquidation, but that in itself should not affect the underlying investment. FCA have been no help other than to point me to NPI's liquidators.

I have a mailing address for Barbican Bondco No.1 of: Throwleigh Lodge, Woking GU21 4QR

I would like to hear from fellow investors about getting together for some sort of joint action or to know if there has already been a group formed to pursue this. It would be interesting to know just how many of us there are. A Google search only brings up old posts on this forum which have subsequently been closed.

I would prefer not to receive the usual replies about how gullible we all are. I invested money I could afford to lose as part of a balanced portfolio, but I am damned if I am going to let these people walk away with my money without some sort of fight.

If anyone has any information regarding investor groups or any information on the assets which are allegedly being disposed of I would be very interested to hear from them.

Thanks

Pete

masonic

Oh no, not another mini bond marketed through NPI using More Group Capital Services Limited. We've had a few of these and they are at various stages of insolvency. The most recent was Fluid ISA Bond if you want to compare and contrast.

You'll see from Companies House that there are no accounts available since July 2020 when all was well and they had assets matching their liabilities to bondholders. However, that period was mostly pre-pandemic, and other similar mini-bond companies that have since collapsed have published statements of affairs showing the assets held by the security trustee become worthless and the liquidator is unable to recover any funds that could be distributed to bondholders. There is no way of knowing for sure what will happen in this case, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

When the Bondco was incorporated, its registered address was that of More Group, but in 2020 it was changed to a "Companies House Default Address", which is not a good sign. It has twice been threatened with being struck off the register and dissolved, presumably for failing to publish accounts - not a good sign. Loss of a couple of the directors, leaving only one... not a good sign.

I would not throw good money after bad if I were you. Any legal action would provoke the relevant companies to file for insolvency, and your legal action will be thwarted. You cannot take a company that is in administration to court.

If you believe you received regulated financial advice to invest in this mini-bond, then you could have a claim against your financial adviser, but generally no financial adviser would touch such an investment.

dunstonh

FCA have been no help other than to point me to NPI's liquidators.

It is an unregulated investment.  The FCA covers regulated investments.

I would like to hear from fellow investors about getting together for some sort of joint action or to know if there has already been a group formed to pursue this. 

If the company has no money, what would the action result in apart from making lawyers richer?

ChrisHoon

Hi there. I’ve had a £5000 bond with Barbican since 2018 and haven’t received a penny from them. Any ideas or advice re how to get my investments back would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Chris.

dunstonh

ChrisHoon said:

Hi there. I’ve had a £5000 bond with Barbican since 2018 and haven’t received a penny from them. Any ideas or advice re how to get my investments back would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Chris.

Effectively you invested in a dodgy unregulated arrangement where total loss was possible.  It failed.

However, rather luckily, the FSCS are considering claims for those that held it in an ISA.   If you didnt use an ISA then you need to be prepared for total loss.

FleurRoth

What is the latest news on Barbican ISA?
FSCS are dealing with it but such slow progress - anybody got any news?

Torrequebrada

I also invested £5k and received nothing in return. Has anybody got an update on any possible progress?