London Court Limited – in Liquidation

A Liquidation is the event in which Liquidators are appointed to take control of the Company and to manage the Company’s affairs. The Liquidators must be a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner.

This process results in the Liquidators winding down the Company’s affairs and realising any assets for the benefit of creditors.

Once the Joint Liquidators are appointed, the director’s powers cease and they no longer run the Company. However, the director has a duty to co-operate with the Joint Liquidators in their duties without being paid.

The Joint Liquidators are therefore responsible for taking the necessary steps to close the Company down.

There is no legal time limit on how long a liquidation will last. A typical liquidation takes 12 months to 18 months to complete however this can be longer depending on asset realisations and the length of time it takes to agree creditor claims.

The liquidation is complete when all the assets have been realised, and where there are funds available to creditors, their claims have been adjudicated and net realisations (after expenses of the liquidation) have been distributed to them.

The Joint Liquidators will write to all known creditors of the Company as well as all investors who bought a bond via London Court or the ‘My Investment Hub’ platform within 28 days of appointment and invite them to make a claim via a proof of debt form which will be provided by the Joint Liquidators. If you believe you have a claim against the Company, please contact the Joint Liquidators using the details above.

Within 28 days of appointment, the Joint Liquidators will be contacting creditors with details of the Joint Liquidators’ initial report. This document will set out the progress of the liquidation thus far.

Creditors will receive a letter with access to a website portal from where they will be able to download the Joint Liquidators’ proposals. The Joint Liquidators’ report will contain essential updates for the creditors.

Please also note that the Joint Liquidators also plan to issue updates to all concerned parties on a continuous basis via the Quantuma website, and other formats as considered appropriate.

As it is only the start of the liquidation, our answers are likely to be necessarily brief on certain details although these answers will develop with further detail over the coming weeks.

London Court’s business model was to provide administrative functions for investment scheme issuers. These investment scheme issuers are not affected by London Court’s liquidation and therefore, your relationship with the investment scheme issuers will not change.

Should you have a specific query about your investment it is recommended that you speak directly to the scheme issuer.

If you are unable to contact the scheme issuer or have any other concerns then please contact the Joint Liquidators using the details above or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”). Should you be concerned about investments made through London Court Limited then the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) have provided guidance on how to complain which can be accessed HERE.

There is no need for investors to do anything. The Joint Liquidators have contacted each investor held on the London Courts database either by email or writing to provide an update in respect of the liquidation and to confirm that the scheme issuers are not affected by London Court’s liquidation.

However, if investors have not received this update then please contact the Joint Liquidators using the contact details above.

The Joint Liquidators are now responsible for the business of London Court only, specific queries regarding investments should be directed to your scheme issuer.

However, we have been made aware that investors holding Whisky Scotland bonds are unable to contact their issuer, the FCA has previously issued the following guidance for these investors which can be accessed HERE.

If you have any specific queries regarding the liquidation of London Court, please contact the Joint Liquidators using the contact details above.

Queries regarding your investment should be directed to your investment scheme issuer, further guidance in respect of Whisky Scotland investments can be located HERE.

Notification of the Liquidation and the Joint Liquidators appointment has been communicated to the FCA. 

The FCA have provided the following guidance for investors of London Court which can be accessed HERE.

The Joint Liquidators will continue to liaise with the FCA, although the FCA does not have legal responsibility for regulating liquidations.

If you already have a claim with the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”), you don’t need to take any action at the moment. As London Court has entered liquidation, FOS will no longer assess complaints against it. The FOS will contact you shortly to ask permission to transfer your complaint to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (“FSCS”).

The Joint Liquidators will work with FSCS so that the FSCS can determine if claims meet the qualifying conditions for compensation.

You will need to submit a new claim to FSCS, but if FSCS is receiving your file, there will be no need to submit all of your claim documents again. The FOS letter will have more details.

For complaints regarding director or Company conduct, please contact the Joint Liquidators using the details above.

The FSCS protects consumers when authorised firms fail and can pay compensation of up to £85,000 for investment claims. More details about the FSCS are available on the FSCS website: www.fscs.org.uk.

The FSCS has set a dedicated webpage for London Court.

https://www.fscs.org.uk/making-a-claim/failed-firms/london-court

You can make a claim to the FSCS for the losses you might have incurred, however FSCS will need to investigate whether claims meet the qualifying conditions for compensation before claims can be processed.

If FSCS is able to protect claims, there is no obligation to accept compensation, however, as referred to within these FAQs, the prospect of any return to creditors within the Liquidation, and outside of the FSCS, is negligible given the limited known assets of London Court and the expected level of creditor claims. As a result, the only possible route for recovery for affected customers is via compensation from the FSCS.

Any losses in excess of FSCS compensation limits will rank as an unsecured claim in the Liquidation.

If you are approached by a company offering to help you recover your money, you should proceed with caution. For most investors, there will be no benefit in involving a third party in making a claim.

The FCA has provided guidance in respect of involving a third party in making a claim, the guidance is located HERE.