Modus Ventures in administration

THE company at the heart of the North West property group Modus has gone into administration.

Insolvency practitioners from KPMG Restructuring have been appointed to Brendan Flood’s Manchester-based Modus Ventures which controls a group of more than 40 companies.

However KPMG has stressed that the group companies, many of which are in the retail property development sector, are unaffected by the appointment.

The administrators described Modus as “large and complex” and said they are currently gathering information on the group.

Mr Flood, a financial backer and director of recently promoted Burnley Football Club, has already seen his Trinity Walk retail development in Wakefield and two companies behind Wigan’s Grand Arcade shopping centre go into administration.

Joint administrator Brian Green said: “The group, like many companies within the property sector, has not been immune to the economic downturn and, indeed, we believe will be one of the first in a long line of commercial real estate casualties.

“It is a large and complex group, with many lending institutions providing funds for both completed and part-completed developments. The company has been in discussions with a number of parties in respect of providing funding for ongoing developments and we will work with company management to pursue this interest. We continue to gather information on the group and will provide an update as to our strategy in due course.”

KPMG has not disclosed the scale of Modus Ventures’ debt burden.