Robinson Way disposal put on hold
THE sale of Robinson Way, the debt collection subsidiary of the collapsed London Scottish Bank, has been put on hold after it failed to attract sufficently high bids.
Administrators from Ernst & Young, who are handling LSB, kept Salford-based Robinson Way out of the insolvency, describing it as “cash generative and highly profitable”.
They recognised it as the bank’s greatest asset and had hoped to raise £100m from a sale.
But new documents filed at Companies House show that 10 bids were received that the administrators felt, “did not reflect the true enterprise value of this successful business”.
The report added: “Consequently, the administrators do not believe that the offers should be taken forward and as such an immediate sale is not being pursued at this time.”
They said other options “to realise the maximum value” for Robinson Way are being considered but they did not give further details citing commercial sensitivity.
Manchester-based London Scottish Bank went into administration in December, 11 months after the bank admitted it did not have enough capital to satisfy the Financial Services Authority.
It had debts of £300m with some £256m belonging to savers with average deposits of £27,000. Their losses have been covered by the government’s compensation scheme.
The latest report also discloses the sale value of another LSB business, the Morses Club, which was bought by the private equity owners of Little Chef in April.
RCapital paid around £6m for the doorstep lender which handled half of LSB’s unsecured consumer credit lending.
LSB started out in the early 20th century as a Wigan-based money lending business providing short-term loans to mill workers. It later relocated to Manchester and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1987.
