Adjournment of winding up
petition
At a hearing at the Isle of Man High Court today, before Deputy
Deemster Corlett, the joint petition of the Bank and the Financial
Supervision Commission was adjourned until 10am, 29 January 2009 at
the request of the Isle of Man Treasury.
The Isle of Man Treasury informed the court that high level
discussions were still taking place between the UK Treasury (which
had confirmed that it would represent the interests of the Isle of
Man) and the Icelandic Government which now owns Kaupthing Bank
h.f. but that to date there had been no tangible outcome to these
discussions.
Her Majesty's Attorney General for the Isle of Man, appearing
for the Treasury, informed the Court that a Committee has been
established of senior Isle of Man politicians to consider
alternatives to a traditional liquidation process. He also advised
that the Treasury had instructed a firm of restructuring
specialists to assist in this regard. In furtherance of this, the
Treasury asked the Court to adjourn any further consideration of
the winding up petition for a period of 60 days to allow those
assisting the Treasury to investigate and consider, among other
things, potential alternative routes to enable creditors to receive
a dividend or payout over and above the amount the majority of
creditors would receive on a straight liquidation, even with a
Depositors Compensation Scheme award and potentially quicker.
The Treasury submitted that a period of 60 days was required to
enable full consideration of any alternative plan. The majority of
creditors in Court supported the Treasury's application for an
adjournment and accepted that 60 days was a reasonable request. In
the circumstances the Court has granted the adjournment to 29
January 2009 but ordered the Treasury to file an affidavit by no
later than 15 January 2009 which must update the Court as to
progress. All other parties to the winding up petition may respond
to the Treasury's affidavit by no later than 22 January 2009. The
Attorney General assured the Court that should it appear that no
alternative plan is feasible before these dates, the Treasury will
inform the Court.
As liquidator provisionally and an officer of the court, I have
a neutral role in relation to the application for a winding up
order and in those circumstances my position has to be neutral with
regard to the request for an adjournment. However I provided the
Court with an affidavit which set out the steps taken by me as
Liquidator Provisionally to date and a copy is available on this
website.
The period up to 29 January
2009
It was made clear to the Court that I will continue to pursue my
duty to preserve and protect the assets of the Bank. I will also
continue to see parties interested in purchasing all or part of the
business.
The Attorney General referred to the Treasury's wish to assist
in enabling a payment on account to be made to depositors as soon
as possible. I will actively work with the Treasury to explore what
may be possible in this regard, given the severe hardship I am
aware some depositors are experiencing.
Contacts
As previously, the best way to make contact is to write to the
bank or to email branch@singers.co.im. If you need to
telephone the bank, please use the main switchboard number +44 1624
699222.
Mike Simpson
Liquidator Provisionally