Fraser Eagle – the Maltese connection

ADMINISTRATORS handling the collapsed bus and taxi firm Fraser Eagle have clawed back £500,000 from a disposal a group company made three years ago.

The cash was diverted to a company registered in Malta and owned by the Fraser Eagle Group which is controlled by Alan Dyson and Kevin Dean.

There are 10 companies in the group, but only two – Fraser Eagle Limited (FEL) and Fraser Eagle Property Holdings Company (FEPHC) – went into administration when the Lancashire coach operator collapsed with debts of nearly £10m a year ago.

FEPHC is owed £1.14m from the 2007 sale of its 76% stake in the Grand Central Railway Company (GCRC), a York-based train firm that runs passenger services between the North East and London.

At the time of the deal it was agreed a deferred consideration would be paid in two instalments, one in December 2009 and another in December 2010. A new report by administrators at Baker Tilly shows that the first payment has been made, but went straight to Fraser Eagle Malta (FEM), as originally agreed.

The administrators said they were compelled, “on the basis of commerciality”, to reach an agreement with FEM whereby it will keep 15% of the first payment and 20% of the second – around £180,000 in total.

FEPHC’s biggest creditor was Barclays Bank which held charges over the business’s property assets. The administrators said £2.2m had been paid back from property disposals, but a shortfall is still likely. Trade suppliers were owed more than £3m but an earlier report showed a deficit of £2.4m in the amount available to unsecured creditors.

Fraser Eagle Limited owed the Bank of Scotland around £1.6m but most of this has been recovered. The firm’s staff have put in a claim for £104,000.

Baker Tilly has extended the period of administration until next year to allow it to recover more assets including the second payment from the GCRC deal.