£3.95 www.propertyweek.com 08.05.09

Pru pulls plug on oel Pinto • Property company controlled by F&C Reit chairman's family trust goes into receivership

BY JAMES WHITMORE

PINTON ESTATES, APROPERlY COMPANY CONTROLLED by Leo Noe, has gone into receivership.

Deloitte's Nick Edwards and Lee Manning were appointed joint receivers to Pinton and 18 subsidiary and related companies on Wednesday last week by Prudential, which is acting as a security trustee for holders of high­interest debenture stock that Pinton holds.

Prudential took the action after more than 20% - the required minimum - of debenture holders voted for receivership. This was prompted by Pinton's inability to make, in full, the half-yearly interest - or coupon­payment on the stock on 3 March. Pinton blamed this on not receiving rent from one of its tenants for the first quarter of this year.

Pinton owns f75m ofUI( properties, which are held in individual subsidiary companies and provide securityforthe f70m debenture, on which Pinton pays interest of 10.75%

to 11.25% a year. It also has flOm of cash. Pinton is owned by Trafalgar Overseas, a

company incorporated in Gibraltar, which is controlled by Noe's family trusts.

Aspokesman for F&C Reit, which is chaired by Noe and acts as asset manager to Pinton, said: 'We underst,and that Trafalgar is continuingin its discussions and hopes to resolve the matter in the near future.'

The most recent financial results posted at Com panies House show that Pinton made a pretax loss of f6.1m in the year to 31 March 2008. Rental income of fl1.6m more than covered the £7.9m annual interest on the debenture stock.

Pinton was called Raglan Estates until May 2000, when Noe, advised by Reit Asset Management, bought a portfolio of properties and the debenture from Raglan Properties.

Raglan was one offour portfolios with debentures attached that Noe bought between 1999 and 2004. Two of the

other holding companies, Ashpol and Estates & General, are also in breach oftheirterms.

Ashpol, which used to be called South Ocean Group, bought a f130m portfolio with a f75m debenture, carryi ng interest of 10. 75% a year, from Allied London in 2000. In January this year it said its properties, generating income of f8.4m a year, were valued at fll1m, which was below the fl25m minimum value requirement.

Law Debenture Trustees wrote to the company in August 2008 to say that it had until the end of the year to remedy the deficit 'and that failure to do so could result in the security forthe stock becoming enforceable'. As at 22 January this year the deficit had not been remedied.

Estates & General, a listed company that Noe bought in 2004 for f71m, holds fl9.85m of debenture stock in two tranches. The f3m stocl< was due for repayment on 31 December 2008 and, because it was not repaid, is technically in default. The company is in talks with the stock holder'about iJvhether it wants to refinance it.