Rearing a phoenix....... part 1 – World of Wine Ltd from the ashes of En Primeur Ltd.

'In Greek mythology, a phoenix or phenix (Greek: φοῖνιξ phoinix; Latin: phoenix, phœnix, fenix) is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. According to some sources, the phoenix dies in a show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born again.^[1]'

From Wikipedia

The Phoenix is a rather splendid bird – largely mythological but they can be reared successfully in the UK as this short series of posts may indicate.

To kick off here is a recent example from the UK wine trade where a company has died 'in a show of flames and combustion' but serendipitously its debts 'simply decompose' before a new one is born again.  

Goodbye – En Primeur Ltd! (05949641) ...... Hello – World of Wine Ltd! (09900486)
En Primeur Ltd was founded in September 2006 with Marco Paulo Correia (DOB: 29.9.1968) and Ana Sebastiao as the company secretary. En Primeur Ltd was based in Crawley with Ground Floor 1-7 Station Road Crawley West Sussex as its registered address and trading address: Suite 4, Kelvin House, Kelvin Way, Crawley RH10 9WE. As its company name implies, the sale of en primeur was a major focus. At the height of the demand for Bordeaux en primeur (2009/2010) Correia advertised his company's en primeur prices in January promising to hold them when the actual price posted by the châteaux several months later – surely a gamble fraught with difficulties.....

On 24th July 2014 En Primeur Ltd went into liquidation with debts that were originally estimated at 'low six figures' but which had climbed to unsecured claims of over £2.4 million by September 2015 when the liquidator, Nedim Aliyan of Abbott Fielding, filed his first annual report. News reports from July 2014 here and here.   

The last annual return filed in 2013 showed En Primeur Ltd had share capital of £100 – 85 shares held by Marco Correia and 15 by Roberto Correia. Full details of En Primeur Ltd and its filing can be found on Companies House Beta service.          
Hello – World of Wine Ltd! (09900486) 
The World of Wine Ltd was incorporated on 3rd December 2015. Ana Ligia Sebastiao (DOB– March 1973), who was company secretary of En Primeur Ltd, is the sole director and sole shareholder. The company has a nominal share capital of £100 – with £100 unpaid. Its registered office is Ground Floor, 1/7 Station Road, Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom, RH10 1HT and trading address: Suite 4, Kelvin House, Kelvin Way, Crawley RH10 9WE.   

Although Marco Correia is not an officer of The World of Wine he is the registrant of the company website – registered on 11th November 2015. Buying en primeur features prominently on the World of Wines Ltd's website. 

Compare and contrast:
Keen readers may notice a certain resemblance between these two explanations of buying en primeur...... 

 En Primeur Ltd: En primeur wines 

  World of Wine Ltd: What is En Primeur? 

Both explanations conclude with: 

'Buying en primeur allows you to make sure that special vintage you have your eye on doesn't get away.'

I'm not entirely sure that the many individuals listed as creditors of En Primeur Ltd would completely concur with the above ....  

 

From the terms and conditions of World of Wine Ltd:

  

En Primeur Sales 

In the unlikely event that we are unable to supply wines 

purchased on your behalf en primeur due to circumstances 

beyond our control, our liability will be 

limited to any money paid to us. 

It is not clear what happens if the reason why wines are not supplied are due to circumstances within the company's control eg failure to pay en primeur suppliers.... 

The terms and conditions for The World of Wine Ltd limit to right of return to three days from delivery. This is contrary to the 2013 Consumer Contracts legislation that gives 14 days. 

•• 

Doubtless business people should be given a second chance but equally potential clients have a right to know a company's background. I won't be buying from the World of Wine Ltd. 

Ex-clients of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd should avoid London Commodity Exchange plc

 

Mailbox Rental:
Jain Harsh address: Suite 444, 19-21 Crawford Street, London W1H 1PJ

Recently I was contacted by RT, a former client of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd, who had been cold called by Jonathan Church of the London Commodity Exchange claiming to be able to recover wines he had bought through BFW that were now held overseas.

RT was rightly suspicious of Mr Church and the London Commodity Exchange. These suspicions have been confirmed by Grant Thornton's David Ingram, the liquidator of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd. Ingram informs me that there are no unaccounted BFW stocks of wines:

'We have undertaken a comprehensive forensic exercise on the little wine that was actually purchased by Bordeaux Fine Wines and are satisfied that it has been accounted for.  There is certainly no stocks of wine overseas.' 

David Ingram's email is below.

London Commodity Exchange plc is one of Jain Harsh's companies. Harsh was born in January 1979. His correspondence address is Suite 444, 19-21 Crawford Street, London W1H 1PJ. He is director of multiple companies (at least 25 – mainly dormant) with an apparently share capital of at least £2,222,001,002 – 15 companies checked to date. If cold called by London Commodity Exchange or other similar company spinning the same tale, my very strong advice is to put the phone down. 

 

Email from RT:

Dear Jim,

I would be grateful if you could read the email below and let me have your opinion.

As background I was an investor in Bordeaux Fine Wines and am now awaiting the completion of the liquidation process.

I was contacted this afternoon (cold called) by Jonathan Church who explained that his company (London Commodity Exchange) was supported by the government and that they were investigating the existence of wine purchased by the director and managers of Bordeaux Fine Wines, in the name of investors, and then stored overseas in the joint names of BFW and the investor.

He claimed that they had recovered wine for 28/29 investors and subsequently disposed of it on their behalf.  He offered to investigate the existence of wine held overseas in my name and then to obtain a valuation prior to selling it.  As yet I have no knowledge of the business arrangements they would propose.

He made great play about the liquidator not being interested in finding these deposits of wine but unfortunately I cannot remember the logic behind this assertion.

Before they could start work I would have to provide them with a list of the wine I purchased from BFW that had not been deposited in my bonded warehouse account.

I found the company on the internet (http://londoncommodityexchange.com/) and they appear to be a futures trading organisation.  There was no reference to dealing in wine.

Personally I have never heard of London Commodity Exchange and I am worried that this is yet another scam.  I would appreciate any comments you may have.  If this does prove to be a scam it would be appreciated if you would make more people aware via your web site.

Best regards,

RT

••

  
Email from Jonathan Church, London Commodity Exchange 

From: admin admin [mailto:admin@londoncommodityexchange.co.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 3:44 PM
To: RT
Subject: London Commodity Exchange

 

Dear Mr RT,

Further to your conversation with one of our marketing advisors, we are writing to you to inform you of the updates regarding the particular investment you acquired through the liquidated company in question.

After researching our systems it has become apparent that you have had difficulty in selling your assets and have not had an accurate valuation of them in some time.

We would like to make you aware that although the company/s you’ve dealt with have had mismanagement problems throughout their organisation, it does not mean that the assets you acquired through them are unsuitable for your portfolio it just means that they haven’t been managed correctly.

When commodity companies in the UK go into certain forms of difficulty it is our duty to ensure we can put the clientele of those organisations in a position where they can sell their assets in a safe, secure and reliable manner.

Through the research which was carried out by our advisors it has come to our attention that your portfolio hasn’t been marketed, and it’s imperative that this process is fully exercised.

Unfortunately it seems that the companies you dealt with never informed you of the sale process and as a consequence this has left your portfolio stagnant for some time.

As promised by our consultants, your portfolio will be accurately valued (once information has been provided) by an independent source. Where they would take market conditions into consideration to shed light on the overall value of your assets.

We would like to make you aware that the valuations are extremely important. However, they are meaningless unless there is a third party buyer who is interested in purchasing the portfolio.

Once our advisors have informed you of the valuations, they would then elaborate on the sale process and how to conclude business in a way that would suit you.

We strive to deliver excellence in every part of our business and welcome any feedback that will enable us to do this.

Let us take this opportunity to congratulate you on taking affirmative steps to closing the chapter on this part of your portfolio.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0203 627 7833    

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Jonathan Church
Administration and Compliance Team
London Commodity Exchange Plc.
 
Telephone: 020 3267 7833
Email: admin@londoncommodityexchange.co.uk


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••

Response from David Ingram, Liquidator of Bordeaux Fine Wines Ltd, Grant Thornton 

We have also spoken to a couple of investors who have also been contacted by this outfit.  I quickly concluded that London Commodity Exchange is, as you state, another fraudulent enterprise trying to perpetrate an advance fee fraud on existing victims.  I strongly recommended to the creditors of BFW whom I spoke to that they should have nothing to do with London Commodity exchange and should definitely not pay them anything.

 

We have undertaken a comprehensive forensic exercise on the little wine that was actually purchased by Bordeaux Fine Wines and are satisfied that it has been accounted for.  There is certainly no stocks of wine overseas.

 

Please do emphasise this message on your website