MF Global set to close as sale hopes fade

MF Global’s administrator KPMG said yesterday it had received no bids for the failed broker’s remaining assets and the business would have to be closed.

KPMG told the remaining 300 MF Global staff in London it had stopped looking for a buyer after a fruitless six weeks in which no third party had come forward.

“A marketing process was conducted for each main business area but no viable bids were received,” said Mike Pink, joint administrator at KPMG.

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The news is a blow to staff at MF Global and marks the latest twist in a complex administrative process that has seen KPMG trying to recover assets on behalf of MF Global clients.

KPMG said on Friday “all but a tiny handful” of the failed futures broker’s 1.6 million British client positions had been closed or transferred.

The administrator also said it had recovered about £600m of client monies from exchanges and clearing houses, and £200m of MF Global’s cash.

“We are pleased with progress in the collection of both client and company monies, and are working hard to prepare to make an interim distribution of client money as soon as practicable,” said Richard Heis, the joint special administrator of MF Global at KPMG.

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The administrator also reiterated that it plans a special meeting for clients and creditors on January 9 next year and that it wants to have received all client claims by the end of March.

The pledge was a boost to MF Global clients who have been frustrated by the lack of progress recovering an estimated £773.7m of client cash.

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