Ian Paul Vanderhook (Bordeaux UK Ltd) banned as director for 9 years

Ian Vanderhook (Bordeaux UK Ltd) has been banned as a UK company director for nine years. The disqualification period started from 18th October 2013. Give the details below Vanderhook looks to have got away relatively lightly with a nine year ban as 15 years is the maximum ban, especially as Vanderhook has failed to cooperate with either the Insolvency Service or the Liquidator.

Unfortunately a ban as a company director still allows Vanderhook to operate as a sole trader or in a partnership – he could, of course, hook up with Andrew Dunne, who was almost certainly the true brains and knowledge behind Bordeaux UK Ltd. Bordeaux Northern Cyprus Partnership has a certain ring to it! 

Given the details in the Insolvency Service press release there would appear to be good grounds for a police investigation and criminal charges.

Press release from UK Insolvency Service:

“Mismanagement on a colossal scale” leads to disqualification for wine investment company director

Ian Paul Vanderhook, the director of a wine investment company – Bordeaux UK Ltd (‘Bordeaux UK) which took in more than £23m from investors and folded with debts of more than £10m - has been banned as a director for nine years for failing to keep proper company books and records.

The disqualification, which started on 18 October 2013 following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, means that Mr Vanderhook (34) cannot be a director, manage or control a company until 2022.

Mr Vanderhook gave undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation not to be a director or manage or control a company until after the disqualification ends.

Bordeaux UK took over £23million from investors between October 2008 and November 2011 of which, only £4.6m was used to purchase wine. The company went into creditors’ liquidation on 30 November 2011 with debts of over £10m but with only £1.7 million of wine available. Mr Nedim Ailyan was appointed as the liquidator.

Of the remaining £19million, Mr Vanderhook benefitted from at least £2million whilst £13million cannot be explained or accounted for as business- related, due to the lack of accounting records.

The investigation showed Mr Vanderhook had failed to keep adequate books and records for three companies, Bordeaux UK Limited, Van Der Hook Management Limited and Van Der Hook Consultancy Limited.

The former lift engineer set up Bordeaux UK in 2002 to encourage members of the public to invest in fine wines, predominantly from the Bordeaux region of France.

The wine recommended to investors by brokers employed by Bordeaux UK was both “In-Bond” - bottled wine stored in bonded warehouses in the UK - and “En-Primeur” - a method of purchasing wines whilst the vintage is still in the barrel and thus not bottled or available to be shipped for at least a year.

In addition, the liquidator was forced to employ specialist agents to assist with unravelling the mess left by Mr Vanderhooks’ failure to keep proper records and to analyse and reconcile claims from investors in excess of £10m.

The liquidator, Nedim Ailyan, called the situation a “mismanagement on a colossal scale” and further stated:

“In my experience the books and records were completely inadequate and we were unable to ascertain the level of creditors due to deficiencies within them. As an example we have instances of wine that was allegedly allocated to individuals but there is no record of the wine being transferred.

“In addition, individuals alleged that the company disposed of wine on their behalf and this was to either be replaced with other stocks of wine or alternatively the proceeds passed to them but this never happened.

“There were no financial records available to us that would have helped us to formulate a statement of affairs or to reconcile individuals’ accounts and on average it was taking at least a day to reconcile each individual’s account due to the volume of sales.”

Furthermore, due to the lack of any accounting records, the Insolvency Service is unable to establish what taxes were due to HM revenue & Customs.

It was also not possible to determine why Van Der Hook Management Limited and Van Der Hook Consultancy Limited received and paid out money from the Bordeaux account as Mr Vanderhook claimed neither company was actively trading.

Given Van Der Hook Management Limited used the trading style of Bordeaux UK, it is suspected their accounts were used for funds due to Bordeaux UK Ltd.

Mr Vanderhook has not co-operated with the Insolvency Service or the liquidator and has not explained the financial transactions or why investors have lost in excess of £10 million.

David Brooks, a Chief Examiner for the Insolvency Service stated:

“This case serves as an example of why companies must keep accounting records and make them available to the liquidator or administrator.

“Without the books and records, costs in the liquidation have increased and what happened to a large amount of investor's money cannot be explained.

“The fact investors have lost in excess of £10million whilst only £1.7million of wine stock was available to them makes this an especially serious case.

“Directors who do not maintain and preserve their company’s books and records adequately will be investigated by the Insolvency Service and in the appropriate cases, disqualified to protect the public and the business community.”

Notes to Editors

Ian Paul Vanderhook is of Kent and his date of birth is 8 August 1979.

Bordeaux UK Limited was incorporated on 19 September 2002 and entered creditors voluntary liquidation on 30 November 2011.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot;

act as a director of a company;

take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership;

act as an insolvency practitioner; or

be a receiver of a company’s property.

In addition, many other restrictions are placed on disqualified directors by other regulations.

Andrew Dunne looking for a Russian bride

My attention has been drawn to an advert featuring Andrew Dunne on the Russian brides match site. Mr Dunne describes himself as a 'very successful 'retired' Personal development and sales trainer. My success came from self discipline, self confidence and self reliance I gained from 25 years as a practicing martial artist'. Clicking on the photo brings up a selection of nine photos of the putative bridegroom.

Assuming that it is the same Andrew Dunne, who was company secretary of Liquid Acquisitions Ltd and was involved with a number of other dubious wine investment companies including Bordeaux UK Ltd, I'm a little surprised that there is no mention here of this aspect of his career. The birth dates don't quite match as records at Companies House show that Andrew Dunne was born on 18th May 1959 whereas on his Russian bride profile he has lost 10 years being born on 18th May 1969. As Mr Dunne is looking for a bride between 18-30, this would assist in making the age difference less marked.   


Details of fraud investigations carried out by the Mirror, some involving Andrew Dunne:

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/03/danger-wine-investment-1-winni.html

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/03/danger-wine-investment-2-premi.html

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/03/danger-wine-investment-3-borde.html

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/03/countrywide-land-fraud-heres-t.html

http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2013/03/danger-green-investment-from-c.html
       

Beaumont Vintners Ltd in liquidation – few assets

Marriott Hotel, Bexleyheath: venue for creditors' meeting

Beaumont Vintners Ltd duly went into liquidation on Thursday 5th April 2012. During a meeting held Marriott Hotel in Bexleyheath, Nedim Ailyan of Abbott Fielding and David Ingram of Grant Thornton have been appointed as joint liquidators. The deficiency is understood to be £1.5 million and there are few assets. The deficiency includes between £600,000-£700,000 of orders placed by clients Beaumont Vintners Ltd for Bordeaux en primeur believed to be 2009s. Beaumont placed orders for between £30,000-£40,000 of en primeurs and these I understand from Nedim Aliyan are currently thought to be the company's sole assets. 

Samuel Philips, the sole director, was present at the creditors' meeting. Philips was appointed on 10.11.2011 following the resignation of Stephen Carpenter _ appointed 8.10.2010. It was clear from the meeting that Philips was a nominal or patsy director as he was not a signatory to the company bank account. Apparently Carpenter had remained a signatory. A Richard Evans had also been a director of the company – appointed 28.6.2010 and resigning on 9.2.2011. investdrinks understands that during the meeting at the Philips declined to name those who actually ran the company, which was set up on 18.6.2010.         

    

Bordeaux UK Ltd – an update on the liquidation

It has still not been possible to establish final figures, partly because the company's system was so poor and inadequate. There is between £300,000 and £400,000 worth of stock at the Octavian bond in Wiltshire, where it appears that customers' stock was switched without their knowledge between named customer reserves and Bordeaux UK's own account. There is over £2 million worth of 2009 en primeur that the company bought. It is planned to sell this through Sothebys auction house, although the timing of the sale will be delicate if the liquidators are to realise the best price for this stock. It is hoped that this will raise between £2.5 million - £3 million.

Overall current claims from creditors are between £8-£10 million but the actual figure is understood to be around £6 million as a number of creditors have claimed what they think their wine ought to be worth rather than what they paid for it. Furthermore because the figures have yet to be finalised Revenue and Customs have not yet be able to submit their claim for unpaid tax.

As things stand creditors are likely to get 30p in the £. investdrinks understands that due to the lack of proper systems of control at Bordeaux UK, the same stock might be sold several times over to different customers.  

Bordeaux UK on the BBC   

The BBC will be featuring Bordeaux UK later today with Paul Lewis covering this story and problematic wine investment on BBC Breakfast and then later on Money Box (Radio 4) at midday. See BBC story by Bob Howard here.

**

Lessons to be learned

Nedim Ailyan of Abbott Fielding estimates that investors may have lost over £100 million over the last four years as more than 50 wine investment companies have 'collapsed'. 

Although Bordeaux UK Ltd bought substantially more wine than Beaumont Vintners Ltd it appears did Beaumont Vintners Ltd, customers of both companies are going to be substantially out of pocket and for some this will represent a substantial loss on their life savings and consequently a reduced standard of living for their retirement. This is long-term mugging.

Do not fall for cold calls and aggressive, high pressure telesales tactics

Check out companies carefully before buying. This is particularly important when buying en primeur. Chris Kissack has some good advice here on en primeur particularly related to the 2011 Bordeaux vintage with the campaign just beginning.

Use price checkers like wine-searcher to see whether you are paying over the odds.

Set up your own account at a bonded warehouse making sure that your wine is quite separate from the company. With a customer reserve account your wine remains under the control of the company and your wine can be moved or even sold without your knowledge. 

Spread your risk – do not put all your savings into wine. 


Wine investment, except for wine funds, are not regulated. So if things do go wrong there is no compensation scheme. 


See also the WSTA (Wine & Spirit Association) wine investment guide.     

Vin Bordelais Ltd – one to avoid

 Bordeaux UK Ltd

Vin Bordelais Ltd (7.11.2011) with logo and identical phone number

Yesterday I asked Ian Vanderhook about Vin Bordelais Ltd and its relationship with Bordeaux UK Ltd. Vanderhook maintains that Vin Bordelais Ltd is a separate company but that he has a 3/4 person office there in Reigate. He said Vin Bordelais Ltd's sole director – Lawrence Douglas Adams – wants to buy Bordeaux UK Ltd. A brief phone call with Lawrence Adams (Douglas Company Services Ltd and sole director of Vin Bordelais Ltd) this morning confirmed that some discussions had taken place.

As already noted in a previous post Vin Bordelais Ltd initially used on its website the logo of Bordeaux UK Ltd and its phone number. The logo has now been removed and the phone number changed on Vin Bordelais' site. investdrinks is also aware that staff who previously worked for Bordeaux UK Ltd are now contacting customers of Bordeaux UK on behalf of Vin Bordelais Ltd.

Anyone contacted by Vin Bordelais Ltd is strongly urged to have nothing to do with this company until it can properly established that it is not a phoenix version of Bordeaux UK Ltd – now in liquidation. 

Furthermore any company claiming that they can assist Bordeaux UK Ltd clients to sort out the mess created by the company going bust should be treated with great suspicion as the affairs of Bordeaux UK Ltd are now in the hands of the liquidator.   

 Vin Bordelais Ltd – amended version 12.11.2011 – logo removed and phone number changed

 

Bordeaux UK Ltd – officially bust – deficit nears £4 million

Marriott Hotel, Bexleyheath

Following a meeting today of the sole director and the sole shareholder (Ian Vanderhook/ Ian Van Der Hook in both instances), Bordeaux UK Ltd (founded in 2002) was placed in voluntary liquidation. The creditors' meeting, held at the Marriott Hotel shortly afterwards, approved the appointment of Nedim Ailyan (Abbott Fielding Ltd) as the liquidator.

Papers presented at the meeting showed that contrary to Ailyan's earlier optimism that the deficit might be less than £250,000, the actual deficiency is currently £3.780 million* (£3,780,112.49p to be exact). There are £3.1 in assets including £67,000 in the bank and the rest is stock. There are around 360 creditors – almost all of them private investors for sums ranging up to £559,000. The only wine trade creditors appear to be Ditton Wine Merchants in for £55,000 and Wine networks for £10,000.

For a number of reasons it is very likely that the deficiency will rise. Firstly Bordeaux UK has not submitted a tax return to HM Revenue & Customs since their 2007 return, so there is likely to be more corporation tax and PAYE to be paid adding to the £63,720 already owned to HMRC. Ailyan said that he was not satisfied that the company database was accurate. It was clear from the meeting that a number of creditors thought they were owed substantially more than was listed on the creditors schedule. There are also some 32 creditors who have zero against their name because what they are owed has not yet been established.

There is also some dispute over the value of the wine in the Bordeaux UK account at Octavian Vaults. The company estimates this to be between £700,000 and £800,000, while Octavian's value (cost price) is £289,101.

Ailyan suggested that on the current figures creditors may get back 47/48p in the £1. This will obviously depend upon what the deficiency is once all the figures are in and the costs associated with the liquidation. My guess after yesterday's meeting is that the payout may well be lower.

I was at the meeting representing HG, who had bought 5 cases of 2009 Château Mouton-Rothschild on 8th February 2010 for £10,000 a case totalling £50,000. I asked Ian Vanderhook (for the sake of simplicity I'll use this version of his name) how he was able to sell 2009 Mouton in February 2010 well before the château had released its price for the 2009 and how many cases it was putting on the market. In response to my question asking him when the price of the 2009 Mouton was released, Vanderhook blustered that the date varied from year to year.  He also claimed that the merchants and brokers with whom he dealt would have given him the price. This would appear to be highly unlikely as they would neither know the price nor the size of their 2009 allocation – a vintage that was obviously going to be in great demand. 

The price release date does vary for the First Growths but only between May and June, even possibly early July but most normally some time in June in the year following the vintage. The price is certainly never released in early February, which is a good six weeks before the wine world descends on Bordeaux to taste the latest vintage after which the en primeur campaign gradually cranks into action. It normally takes until late June before the prices of the top wines, like Mouton, are released.  The end of March/beginning April 2012 will see the 2011 tasted.

In the 'company history' presented to the meeting Vanderhook stated: 'The Company was set up by Mr Ian Vanderhook, who remains the sole director of the Company, in order to take advantage of his experience gained working for a company that specialised in the sale of fine wine.'
 

Despite this claim of 'experience' Vanderhook made it clear from this and other responses during the meeting that his understanding of how the fine wine market works appears to be still sketchy even after running a 'wine investment' company for the last nine years. Perhaps hardly surprising as Vanderhook admitted that 'his experience' came from working a maximum of two weeks for James Hewitt Associates Ltd, which was closed in the public interest on 12th September 2002 following a petition by the DTI. Bordeaux UK Ltd was fired up a week later on 19th September 2002 with 23-year-old Vanderhook as the sole director. Prior to his brief stint at James Hewitt Associates, Vanderhook told the meeting he was a lift engineer.

Vanderhook (VK) was asked whether Andrew Dunne, who effectively ran Ransby Hoare Ltd, Liquid Acquisitons Ltd and James Hewitt Associates Ltd - all closed in the public interest, had had any involvement in Bordeaux UK Ltd. VK said that Dunne had been involved in some staff training but was unsure when this was – 'might have been two or four years ago'. I asked VK whether he had met Dunne, while he was at James Hewitt Associates Ltd. "No," was VK's response as it was to my question whether the James Hewitt Associate's database has been transferred to Bordeaux UK Ltd.

VK insisted that Bordeaux UK Ltd had been set up properly with the assistance of his father, I understand is a policeman. Given VK's very limited experience in 2002 and continuing lack of knowledge about the fine wine market combined with his admitted weakness in administering a company, this all seems a decidedly unlikely scenario. More plausible is that Andrew Dunne chose VK as the next young man to follow on from 23-year-old James Hewitt.

A creditors' committee was formed at the end of the meeting. It includes someone from HMRC specialist investigations, which should ensure that the right questions are asked whether they will be to the liking of Ian Vanderhook remains to be seen.

Ailyan stressed on several occasions that both the FSA and Scotland Yard were investigating some other failed wine investment companies, although to date Bordeaux UK Ltd is not one of these.

* 18.11.2011. Please note that these figures (assets, deficiency etc.) are calculated from information supplied by Ian Vanderhook. Now that the liquidator has been appointed these figures will be investigated. It is not clear, for instance, whether the stock listed with a book value of £3,039,101 is calculated from the cost price value provided by Octavian Vaults or from a separate valuation.

 22.11.2011: I have been informed by Nedim Ailyan that the value of the stock at Octavian is based on Vanderhook's valuation. This stock is due to be valued this week but given "the paucity of information" provided by Vanderhook to the liquidator it would seem all to likely that the stock in Octavian is worth less than the 'book value' of £700,000-£800,000 given to the meeting. The rest of the £3,039,101 is made up of 2009 (£2 million) and 2010 (£250,000) Bordeaux en primeur orders placed with UK wine brokers/merchants. 

Furthermore Ailyan believes that the tax bill will rise very substantially once HMRC completes it investigation into the tax affairs of Bordeaux UK Ltd and Vanderhook. Listed at £63,720 it may rise to £500,000 and even over £1 million if HMRC applies penalties, although apparently in cases where members of the public are involved HMRC may well be waived.                                

Vin Bordelais Ltd – changes logo and phone but has it changed its spots?

Vin Bordelais Ltd: website as of Tuesday 8th November 2011

Compare and contrast:

On Tuesday I posted about the Bordeaux UK trio – the three interlinked companies. Anyone visiting the Vin Bordelais site will find that there have been a few rapid changes: the logo, which was identical to that of Bordeaux UK has gone, and the phone number has changed from 0800-085448 (same as Bordeaux UK Ltd) to 01737-735290. '01737' is the area code for Reigate and Castle Court, 41 London Road, Reigate. This is a Regus serviced office building. 

 

Despite these cosmetic changes, this is surely a wine investment company to avoid.  

Vin Bordelais Ltd: website as of Saturday 12th November 2011

Bordeaux UK Ltd: curioser & curioser – a tale of three companies

This morning when I posted the news that Bordeaux UK Ltd had gone into liquidation it all looked relatively straightforward. However, during the day complications have emerged: there are three companies involved not just one. 

These are: Bordeaux UK Ltd, NS & IV Ltd and Vin Bordelais Ltd

 

Bordeaux UK Ltd (2002 version) – Companies House record

Bordeaux UK Ltd (company number – 04540202) founded on 19th September 2002. Registered office: Crown House, 72 Hammersmith Road, Hammersmith, London W14 8TH. 32-year-old Ian Van Der Hook is the director.

This is the original company and the one that has been placed in voluntary liquidation. On the 7th October the company changed its name to NS & IV Ltd and then on 26th October changed it back to Bordeaux UK Ltd. 

Although the total deficiency is not known, it is already clear that a number of clients placed orders for en primeur Bordeaux from the 2009 and 2010 vintages. The wine trade will start to ship the 2009s from the end of this year with the majority being delivered in the first half of 2012.  

Having spoken this afternoon to the liquidator, Nedim Ailyan (Abbott Fielding), the news on the en primeurs appears to be rather more postive than initially feared. Ailyan has been in contact with Octavian Vaults as well a merchants and brokers such as Farr Vintners, Wilkinson and Bordeaux Index and from replies so far received it appears that Bordeaux UK did place en primeur orders and had made payments. One unnamed broking company told him that of £135,000 ordered payments totalling £120,000. However, Octavian Vaults have been swamped with phone calls over the last two days, while Ailyan has taken over 100 calls. It is likely to take some time before it can be fully established whether what clients ordered to matches the orders placed by Bordeaux UK Ltd.  

Regarding the estimated deficiency Ailyan believes that this may be less than £250,000 but obviously this could change once all the figures are in. "We were approached some six or eight weeks ago when initially the idea was to go for a solvent liquidation (Members' Voluntary Liquidation) but the continuing fall in the value of top wines made the company insolvent on paper."   

NS & IV Ltd

NS & IV Ltd (co number: 07496940)

Company founded on 18th January 2011 with the same registered office address as Bordeaux UK Ltd – Crown House, 72 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8TH – a Regus serviced office. On 7th October 2011 the company's name was changed from NS & IV Ltd to Bordeaux UK Ltd. The name was changed back to NS & IV Ltd on 26th October 2011. Ian Van Der Hook is also director of this company.

 

Vin Bordelais Ltd

Vin Bordelais Ltd (company number: 07620869)

Company founded on 4th May 2011 with a registered office at 44a The Green, Warlingham, Surrey CR6 9NA. This address is one made available to companies as a registered office made available to companies by the Registered Office Service based at Regent House, 316 Beulah Hill, London SE19 3HF. Laurence Douglas Adams is the sole director of this company. He holds 3301 directorships. Vin Bordelais Ltd has an account at Octavian Vaults. Vin Bordelais Ltd's trading address is Castle Court, 41 London Road, Reigate RH2 9RJ.

It is instructive to compare the websites of Bordeaux UK Ltd and Vin Bordelais Ltd. It is noticeable that the logo is identical as is the telephone number – 0800-0854468.  

Staff, who previously worked for Bordeaux UK Ltd, have contacted Octavian Vaults on behalf of Vin Bordelais Ltd saying that they have an interest in acquiring the stock held in the name of Bordeaux UK Ltd. Once appointed it will be one of the tasks of the liquidator to either dispose of the Bordeaux UK stock or allocate where title can be established to customers of Bordeaux UK Ltd.  

 

Bordeaux UK Ltd website: front page (above)

Bordeaux UK Ltd: 'about us' page

Vin Bordelais Ltd: web page – same logo and phone number as Bordeaux UK Ltd

Updated@16.30 8.11.11.