Mouchel Shareholder Group backs plans for financial services tribunal

THE MOUCHEL Shareholder Group is supporting calls for a new financial services tribunal.
Kevin Hollinrake MP is the co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Business BankingKevin Hollinrake MP is the co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Business Banking
Kevin Hollinrake MP is the co-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Business Banking

The group, which represents pensioners and former employees of the firm who purchased shares through a Government-supported share-save scheme, has added its backing to a campaign for a new tribunal which is being led by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Business Banking.

Last month, Kevin Hollinrake MP, the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Business Banking, wrote to the chief executives of all the banks in the UK that offer commercial lending.

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Mr Hollinrake, who is the MP for Thirsk, Malton & Filey, urged the CEOs to support proposals for a Financial Services Tribunal to “future-proof” the dispute resolution landscape.

A spokesman for the Mouchel Shareholder Group said: “We are very supportive of the efforts of Kevin Hollinrake MP and the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Business Banking in advocating the formation of a financial services tribunal through which our concerns as former shareholders and those of other affected parties might be examined impartially.

The statement added: “We consider this initiative to be very important as there may be many other firms, both PLC and SME, affected in a similar manner, which would see it as a means of seeking redress where, previously, any such hope had been abandoned.”

Mouchel had a strong presence in Yorkshire, which included an office near Bridgewater Place in Leeds. In August 2012, the assets of Mouchel were sold to a new firm owned by its lender banks and its management, after shareholders rejected an alternative restructuring plan,

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At the time, administrators from KPMG said the deal to sell the business to a newly incorporated company, MRBL Ltd, meant that all of Mouchel’s subsidiaries would continue to trade as usual.

In August 2012, shareholders rejected a plan that would have seen its lenders swap £87m ($138m) of existing debt for a majority stake in the company. Instead the group was put into administration and immediately sold to MRBL, whose owners included lenders RBS, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.

At the time, Mouchel chief executive Grant Rumbles said the restructuring would ensure the business’s future. Since 2012, the Mouchel Shareholder Group has attempted to gain more information about the decision to place the firm into administration.

A spokesman for the All Party Parliamentary Group said they welcomed the support of the Mouchel Shareholder Group.