More than 1,600 former clients of BlackBee Investments, the Cork-based investment firm that collapsed into liquidation in May 2023, have filed claims with the State’s investor compensation scheme.
Published on Thursday, the Investor Compensation Company’s (ICCL) annual report indicated it remains unclear whether the losses will be compensatable as the joint liquidators are yet to conclude their investigations.
The High Court moved last month to wind up City Quarter Capital II, a Blackbee investment vehicle, which allegedly acted as an issuer of loan notes and failed to file accounts for some six years.
It follows the court’s decision to appoint Luke Charleton and Colin Farquharson of EY as joint official liquidators last May to BlackBee, a subsidiary of the BlackBee group, on foot of an application by the Central Bank of Ireland.
At the time, the regulator said it had “engaged extensively” over an “extended period of time” with BlackBee, which had €180 million of assets under management, having initially received information in July 2020 about governance, strategy and financial position concerns.
On Thursday, the ICCL confirmed it had received in excess of 1,600 claims from investors, up from 1,300 last year, out of a possible 2,055.
ICCL chairwoman Jane Marshall said: “All claims for compensation received from clients of BlackBee Investments have been forwarded to the administrators for certification, who will determine the extent of compensatable losses incurred if any. The ICCL will process claims certified by the administrators as speedily as possible on receipt.”
The scheme also dealt in 2024 with a small number of “residual claims” arising from the collapse of Custom House Capital (CHC). It said the CHC case is now “essentially completed” and that compensation totalling €11.9 million had been approved with 97 per cent of claims already settled.
The ICCL, which provides compensation of up to €20,000 for each investor claim, recorded a surplus for the year to the end of July of €5.2 million, down €4.3 million, due, it said, largely to the “non-recurrence” of special levies that had arisen last year.
At the end of July, the ICCL had reserves of €103 million, comprising €97.8 million in a fund dedicated to larger firms like banks, asset managers and stockbrokers, and €27.3 million in a fund for smaller investment firms.
Ms Marshall hailed another “satisfactory year” for the scheme.
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