KPMG negotiating sale of Manyoo site
Administrators of the firm behind the failed Manyoo scheme at Salford Quays have told TheBusinessDesk.com that they have entered into negotiations with an “interested party” over the sale of the company’s main asset – the land on which the planned development of more than 1,000 properties was meant to sit.
A spokeswoman for KPMG, which was appointed as administrators for Manyoo LLP in June 2009, said that negotiations were “at relatively early stages and we are unable to confirm further details at the moment”.
She added that the firm was still awaiting a response from Salford City Council regarding an application submitted in June to extend planning permission for the scheme, which was originally due to start on site in June 2008.
“We are hopeful of a response in the next few weeks,” she said.
Manyoo was placed into administration on March 26, although fellow developer Peel Holdings (North Ltd) appointed Law of Property Act receivers on another part of the site in May 2009 in a bid to secure the £7.7m it was owed for land acquired by Manyoo.
A new statement of affairs puts the current estimated value of the land at £1m – down from £1.5m previously.
Manyoo was a joint venture between Leeds-based developer KW Linfoot and London-based property investment firm Yoo Capital LLP. The former collapsed in June 2009 and recently-filed accounts for the latter for the year to December 31 2009 show that its net assets dropped to £361,876 – from over £7.2m a year earlier.
Manyoo owed its main lender, Bank of Ireland, £9.8m and a statement of affairs prepared by the directors for KPMG currently estimates a shortfall of around £8.8m. It also indicates that they will be unlikely to recover any of the £2.25m owed by developer KW Linfoot to the firm, nor the £417,825 owed by its founder Kevin Linfoot.
