i3 Group founder calls in administrators
THE business formerly known as i3 Group owned by Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Elfeld Thomas has called in administrators.
The business, which recently changed its name to Earlestown Technology Ltd and relocated its head office from Haydock to a unit at Mochdre Commerce Park at Clwyd in North Wales, has appointed Matt Dunham and Les Ross of the Manchester office of accountancy firm Grant Thornton as joint administrators.
Speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com yesterday, Mr Dunham confirmed that it had been called in by the directors of the company ahead of its formal appointment by the court last Friday (June 3).
He added that Earlestown Technology now “appears to be a shell company with a number of investments” which administrators were looking to realise on behalf of its creditors.
Earlestown Technology contained the remaining assets of i3 Group which were not sold by Mr Thomas to a management team in January this year, excluding the i3 International Ltd and Fibre Associates businesses.
They will continue to operate under a new vehicle, Mochdre Ltd, whose current sole director is ex-i3 Group CFO Michael Norris.
A spokesperson for the new vehicle said: “All companies in the new organisation will be rebranded to emphasise their links to the i3 brand.”
One of the subsidiaries which had been sold, H2O Networks, was at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office investigation as a result of invoices raised between it and collapsed Warrington funder Total Asset Finance.
Total Asset Finance’s lender, Belgian bank KBC, had forwarded £91m to the business on the strength of invoices generated by H2O Networks while it was still a subsidiary of i3 Group.
Mr Dunham said that he and Ross “haven’t been notified of any specific claim” from KBC regarding Earlestown Technology’s assets, but he added there were a number of inter-company balances that need to be settled.
“Our main priority is to understand what has gone on and in getting as much value into the pot as possible for creditors in the short-term”.
H2O Networks was placed into administration by its new owner City Fibre Holdings in April – just three months after buying it from i3 Group. However, City Fibre’s directors then bought the business and assets back in a “pre-pack” deal which they said had been carried out with the full support of KBC.
Total Asset Finance was placed into administration in February after funder KBC called in the Serious Fraud Office in the latter half of last year following a due diligence exercise.
Thomas started i3 Group in 2002 and set up several subsidiaries which installed broadband fibre networks within sewers as a way of reducing build costs.
The company won several plaudits for innovation and Thomas was named Ernst & Young Technology Entrepreneur of The Year for its North and Midlands region in 2010.
According to Companies House records, Thomas owned more than 80% of the shares, with other directors also holding minority stakes. Former Total Asset Finance director Steve Dartnell, who had £24m worth of assets frozen following his firm’s collapse, was a director of i3 Group until November last year and owned a small stake in the company.
