Savers hit by £210m fund firm crash

THE collapse of a fund management group with debts of £210m has hit hundreds of investors. The Imperial Consolidated offshore fund management group has been forced into administration.

Imperial, based in Mayfair, west London, applied to the High Court in Leeds last week for the voluntary appointment of an administrator after the remaining director was advised that the company was insolvent.

Imperial's investors put money into two offshore funds - IC Mutual and Alpha - or made direct loans to the British company. An investor who contacted Financial Mail after we highlighted the looming crisis last month said he had invested £2m.

Imperial's assets have been estimated at £220m, but Philip Lyon of accountants Mazars Neville Russell said it is uncertain how much can be realised. 'Our first task is to find out where the money is,' he said. 'We have to try to find a way to repay investors.'

Imperial was run until last year by Jared Brook, 32, and former bankrupt Lincoln Fraser, 30. They were banned from being company directors for three years in February following their involvement in a hotel business in Morecambe, Lancashire, that collapsed in 1995. The pair resigned from Imperial in April 2001, but are understood to retain ownership through offshore companies and trusts.

The group's Imperium Bank in Grenada has been under the supervision of the island's finance ministry since April. Imperial was not authorised by the Financial Services Authority, the UK industry regulator. However, independent financial advisers have recommended Imperial to UK clients and expatriates.