Modus JVs cost Ciref £19.1m
CIREF, the AIM listed property investor, lost £19.1m on its failed businesses with Modus Ventures.
Ciref invested in six shopping centres with Modus Ventures, Brendan Flood’s Salford-based property development business which went into administration in May.
It has now bought back some of the sites and said it had agreed “in principle” to buy a £4.5m chunk of debt held by Royal Bank of Scotland over Birchwood Shopping Centre in Warrington for just £85,000. RBS declined to comment on the arrangement.
Three of the six shopping centres are now in administration including Houndshill in Blackpool. But it has salvaged Birchwood, Delamere Place in Crewe and another in Coventry.
It has also bought another Modus business, Wigan’s Grand Arcade, from administrators and hopes to make an offer for Houndshill, which collapsed owing Anglo Irish Asset Finance £140m.
Aviva Commercial Finance, which put £143m into the Wigan centre, has agreed to restructure the senior debt on the shopping centres. It will receive some of the £38m Ciref is raising in a share placing as well as convertible preference shares.
The Manchester office of Pinsent Masons advised on Ciref’s fundraising. The business is also changing its name to Redefine International to reflect the majority stake taken by South African fund Redefine Income Fund.
Pinsent Masons’ corporate partners Howard Gill and Chris Moss led the advisory team on the firm’s share placing, which also included James Fitzgibbon and Helen Loizou.
