Updated
Martha
H Thompson and Dermot Power of BDO Stoy Hayward LLP, Kings Wharf, 20-30 Kings
Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 3EX were appointed Joint Liquidators of Farepak
on 4 October 2007.
This
follows the appointment of Martha H Thompson and Shagun
Dubey of BDO Stoy Hayward LLP, Kings Wharf, 20-30
Kings Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 3EX as Joint Administrators over the assets
and business of Farepak on 13 October 2006.
Report
To Creditors
The Insolvency Act 1986 states that the Joint Liquidators should report to all known creditors within three months of the anniversary of their appointment on 4 October 2007. Because of the costs involved in reporting to all the creditors, the Joint Liquidators applied to Court to ask if they could issue a shortened version of this report to all of Farepak's agents. The Court ordered that the Joint Liquidators could do this and this shortened report (“the 2008 Agents’ Report”) has been posted to all of Farepak’s agents. If you are not an agent you will not have been sent a copy of the 2008 Agents’ Report and you should either speak with your agent to get an update or, alternatively, the report is available to download below.
The full report (“the 2008 Creditors’ Report”) is also available to download below.
Creditors’ Guide To Liquidators’
Fees
Policy of BDO Stoy Hayward LLP in
respect of fees
Meeting
Of Creditors
The Insolvency Act 1986 states that the Joint Liquidators should hold a meeting of the creditors within three months of the anniversary of their appointment. On 5 September 2008, the Court ordered that such a meeting should not be held, following the Joint Liquidators’ application. The Joint Liquidators were concerned that agents and customers who had already suffered a loss might have to take time off work and spend money on travelling to a meeting and that the costs of hiring a venue large enough to hold the number of creditors would be significant.
Legal
Proceedings against Third Parties
In May 2008, with the agreement of the Liquidation Committee, the Liquidators issued proceedings against a number of parties in an attempt to secure further monies for the benefit of creditors, which includes customers and agents. Because it is a legal action, neither the Liquidators nor the Liquidation Committee can provide any further information as this may prejudice proceedings and jeopardise the success of the case. From this point onwards the length of time this takes to resolve is in the hands of the Court.
Historically, any money paid to Farepak by
customers was not held in a separate bank account but shortly before Farepak
went into Administration, the directors of Farepak tried to establish a Trust
so that money paid by Farepak's customers after 11 October 2006 could be
returned to customers if Farepak went into an insolvency process. The Trust was not set up properly and the
Administrators applied to Court for help in sorting out the monies which were
paid into the bank or a post office after
The Court ruled that, because the agents were agents of Farepak, the Joint Liquidators (previously the Joint Administrators) would need to prove when the monies were paid to the agent by the customer as well as when they reached Farepak's bank account. The hearing was adjourned to allow the Joint Liquidators (previously the Joint Administrators) to find a cost effective way of identifying whose money was whose.
The Joint Liquidators have now submitted all
the papers to Court and the case is due to be heard in 2009. The length of
time this takes to resolve is in the hands of the Court.
Customer
& Agent Claims
PLEASE
NOTE THAT NO FURTHER MONEY SHOULD BE SENT TO FAREPAK. ANY ORIGINAL DOCUMENTATION
SHOULD BE RETAINED AT THE PRESENT TIME
In the meantime, if you have not already done
so please send notice of any claim you may have:
·
By post - for agents using
Agent Letter and Proof of Debt to: Claim Registration Department, Farepak
Food & Gifts Limited - In Liquidation, PO Box 3404,
We are not able to deal with changes of address
over the telephone for security reasons. If you have moved since submitting
your original claim, please register your change of address by sending details
of your name, your agent's number, the amount of your claim, your old address,
your new address and your signature to:
Claims Management Team, Farepak Food &
Gifts Limited - In Liquidation, PO Box 3404,
In a significant number of cases there are
differences between the claims submitted by customers and the total claim
submitted by their agent. These differences
have to be investigated and to date it has been possible to delete duplicate
claims and errors totalling approximately £3.5 million, which will increase
the dividend payable to creditors, including agents and customers.
The Claims Management Team are in the process of contacting agents and customers who have not yet submitted a claim or whose claim requires further supporting information. If you receive a letter, it would be most helpful if you could respond as soon as possible to allow the Claims Management Team to deal with your claim promptly.
Move
from Administration to Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation
Please
CLICK HERE for further information regarding Farepak's move from Administration
to Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation anf the Joint Administrators' final progress
report.
Joint
Administrators’ Proposals & First Creditors' Report
Please click the link below for further
information regarding the voting results for the Joint Administrators’
Proposals and the first report to creditors (issued in January 2007), including
copies of both the shortened version and full length version of this report.
Joint Administrators’ Proposals & First Creditors'
Report
Frequently Asked Questions
Please see below for answers to certain
questions you may have.
1.
What is the report dated 8 October 2008?
This is the report by the Joint Liquidators
summarising what has happened in the first year of the Liquidation. A copy
of this report (“the 2008 Creditors’ Report”) has been lodged with the Registrar
of Companies and a shortened version of this report (“the 2008 Agents’ Report”)
was posted to all of Farepak’s agents. If you are not an agent you will not
have been sent a copy of the 2008 Agents’ Report and you should either speak
with your agent to get an update or, alternatively, the report is available
to download from this website.
2.
Why are there two versions of the report?
The Court allowed the Joint Liquidators
to send a shortened version of the report (“the 2008 Agents’ Report”) to Farepak’s
agents because of the numbers involved and the costs of postage. Both the
2008 Agents’ Report and full length version (“the 2008 Creditors’ Report”)
are available to download from this website.
3.
Why haven’t I heard anything?
Due to the large number
of claims received and in order to keep administration costs as low as possible,
the Joint Liquidators (previously the Joint Administrators) are unable to
acknowledge each claim received at the present time. To date, 121,800 claims totalling approximately
£37.6 million have been received from customers.
4.
When will I get my money?
It is not yet possible
to confirm when a payment will be made to creditors, including agents and
customers. The Joint Liquidators are still pursuing monies for the benefit
of creditors. For example, they have applied to Court to determine whether
the Trust was valid and have begun a legal action against third parties. The
length of time these issues will take to resolve is in the hands of the Court.
5.
How much will I be paid?
On present information, the
estimated dividend is likely to be in the region of 5p in the £.
6.
When will I receive another report?
By law, the Joint Liquidators have
to report to Farepak’s creditors, including agents and customers, every year
following the anniversary of their appointment, i.e. each October. The report
for October 2008 has now been sent to all agents, and a copy is available
to download above. The Joint Liquidators will, however, carry on using this
website as a way of updating all of Farepak’s creditors, just as the Joint
Administrators did.
7.
A Farepak agent/customer has died. How do I notify you?
We are not able to deal with these notifications over the telephone for security reasons. If you wish to notify us of the death of an agent or customer, please send a copy of the death certificate and the new address for correspondence together with the agent's number (if known), to:
Claims Management Team, Farepak Food & Gifts Limited - In Liquidation, |
Please click this link for older frequently asked questions