Nine Luminar subsidiaries to go into administration

NINE subsidiaries of troubled nightclub group Luminar are to be placed into administration today.

The development follows the appointment of financial services firm Ernst & Young as administrators of Luminar Group Holdings.

Tom Lukic, from the Birmingham office, and London-based Alan Hudson and Alan Bloom, are now joint administrators of the plc, following its request late on Wednesday afternoon to suspend trading in its shares.

Luminar operates Oceana clubs in Birmingham and Wolverhampton and Liquid in Stoke and used to own the Jam House in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Its Liquid and Diva clubs in Shrewsbury shut down in 2009.

A statement from E&Y said, at this stage, the administration appointment related only to Luminar Group Holdings and nine further subsidiary companies, including the trading operations of the group, were not in administration.

However, it was the directors’ intention to make an administration appointment in respect of these nine companies today, the statement added.

Administrators were called in after Luminar failed to reach a new finance agreement with its banking group, comprising Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays.

E&Y said was it was working with Luminar’s board to stabilise the firm’s trading position ahead of the important Halloween trading period.

The portfolio of nightclubs will continue to trade as normal as a going concern while administrators seek a buyer for the business.

Luminar operates around 75 nightclubs across the UK, employing up to 3,000 staff.