PLEASE APPRECIATE THAT I GET SENT MORE INFORMATION AND LEADS THAN I CAN USE. I TRY TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE WHO CONTACTS ME BUT I CANNOT POSSIBLY USE EVERY BIT OF INFORMATION I’M SENT. DIOLCH YN FAWR
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This post began life as another Miscellany, a gathering of tit-bits. But one of the component pieces grew to the point where it just took over.
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DEVELOPMENT BANK OF WALES
As the name suggests, the Development Bank of Wales exists to help Welsh businesses. Which is as it should be, though I’ve reported on a few cases over the years where loans should never have been made.
But there you go. Officialdom.
I support the DBW funding Welsh companies to set up, to grow, and to employ more people, thereby contributing to local communities; even to the extent of taking the odd punt on an indigenous entrepreneur thinking outside the box.
But I do not support handing over Property Development Loans to house builders. Because if the projects are viable then loans should be easy to come by from banks and other institutions.
Which is why I was annoyed to read the headline ‘£5.6m Property Boom for Mid and West Wales’ in Business News Wales last Friday. (Thanks for the tip, ‘D’.) And even more annoyed after reading the article.
It referred to two specific developments. To wit: Hayward Homes has been given £3m to build houses at Tycroes, Ammanford, with prices starting at £269,950; while Sotero Ltd has secured “an initial £1.3m” to start on ‘Drovers Meadow’, Bronllys, Brecon, where prices will start at £350,000.
Naturally, I wanted to know more about these companies. Here’s what I found . . .
♦
HAYWOOD HOMES
COUNTRY LIFE
Before tucking into the main course here’s a starter. Or maybe an introductory digression. Up to you.
The head honcho at these Haywood companies is the eponymous Michael Robert Haywood. One of his close sidekicks is Anthony Grahame Scutt, who has a place outside Pennal, near Machynlleth. Perhaps a holiday home.
Scutt has been involved in seven companies that supposedly organise country fairs, game fairs and the like. All were set up in 2015 and all were dissolved 2017/18, Companies House not burdened with anything more than accounts for dormant companies.
Michael Robert Haywood was involved in most of them.
First there’s the Great British Falconry Fair Ltd. Which looks fine until you learn that there is no Great British Falconry Fair, only a British Falconry Fair.
Similarly, we find Great British Game Fair Ltd but does it have any connection – beyond a similar name – with the real deal in the form of the Game Fair?
Then there’s the Midland Game Fair, the Lowther Show, the Kelmarsh Country Show, and the Highclere Country Show, all of which exist, but the Scutt companies using those names don’t seem to be involved with them.
A name used by Haywood and Scutt for one of their companies was the Sussex Country Show, which doesn’t seem to exist in any form.
One show website provided the name Countryman Fairs Ltd, a company with no assets other than its share issue. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it too was destined for receivership until someone had second thoughts in November last year.
In addition, there is Countryman Business Ltd, also in liquidation. Among the directors are Haywood, Scutt, and American Ian Francis Harford, whose companies all seem to have a ‘country sports’ theme.
To complete the picture – possibly – we’ll look at CFL (2015) Ltd. This company was known as Countryman Fairs Ltd until 2015, when it changed its name to make way for the new Countryman Fairs Ltd, which you’ve just read about.
There is the usual dramatis personae and it should go without saying that CFL (2015) is in liquidation.
Another Countryman Fairs director, who pops up in many of the companies with which Haywood and Scutt have been involved is Michael Paul Bailey, who has been involved with over eighty companies.
Bailey recently took over Scutt Management Services Ltd, where Anthony Grahame Scutt had been a director from its Incorporation in 2001. Scutt resigned on 1 June 2020, but came back a week later. His and his wife’s shares were transferred to Bailey 17 June.
At the risk of sounding uncharitable, something’s not right here. The way these companies set up and then collapse looks very similar to the operations of the ‘unorthodox’ businessmen you so often read about on this site.
◊
TYCROES
But let us leave the waxed jackets and the gun dogs to return to Haywood’s building companies, and his Tycroes venture.
While there is quite a network of Haywood companies the one receiving the DBW loans is Haywood Homes (Wales) GL Ltd, with its address in Halesowen which, if you check a map – and despite what Alwyn Thomas of DBW says – is not ‘local’ to any part of Wales. The other Haywood companies are also based in England.
The land in question, just east of Tycroes, is a couple of miles from Pont Abraham and the M4. Which is the reason these houses are being built where they’re being built. For they’re commuter properties.
The land has been in Haywood’s possession for some time; the title document says it was bought in April 2004 from Newland Homes of Gloucestershire. Part of the site has already been developed, and the DBW money funds the next phase, Llys Tirnant.
Of itself, there’s not a lot to be said against this project . . . except that, yet again, we have a company from outside of Wales making money from Wales. Money that goes back over the border.
That’s bad enough, but when the Development Bank of Wales funds such companies, then the system is broke. Or maybe it’s exposed for what it is.
The loans from the DBW were delivered 5/6 November last year. Starting on 5 November Haywood Homes (Wales) GL Ltd paid off three loans with Lloyds Bank, money borrowed for earlier phases at Tycroes and also for land it owns at Drefach, just outside Llanelli, which is also within easy reach of Pont Abraham. Where I’m sure the company plans to build more commuter properties . . . that it will ask the DBW to fund.
How much more land has Haywood got banked?
There’s certainly the land to the north of Alma Street in Llanarth, Ceredigion, owned by Haywood Homes (Llanarth) Ltd, bought with a loan from the National Westminster Bank. And let’s not forget Principality Ventures Ltd, with four outstanding charges covering yet more land at Tycroes, plus land at Cross Hands.
That they find these plots suggests to me that although Haywood, Scutt, Bailey and the rest are based in England, they have good contacts in Wales. I wonder who or what those contacts might be?
If I was involved with the DBW, or if I was a politician, I would also be asking the directors of Haywood Homes (Wales) GL Ltd about their huntin’, fishin’, shootin’ creations.
UPDATE 07.07.2020: The land in Llanarth was sold in April 2013 for £160,000. Haywood Homes (Llanarth) Ltd went into voluntary liquidation in 2014 without repaying National Westminster Bank the money owed. The money received for the land did not appear in the company’s final accounts. Where did it go?
The four directors were Michael Robert Haywood and his wife, Anthony Grahame Scutt and his wife.
♦
SOTERO LTD, BRONLLYS
The company that has been given £1.3m to start with (more to follow), is run by Spanish national Sonia Mancisidor, from her palatial offices at 111/112 Bute Street, in Cardiff.
Which is where we also find Elgoibar Ltd, the company that took out loans to buy the Bute Street property. Loans from two companies: M5 Associates, and Amicus Finance PLC . . . which is in administration.
The land at Bronllys was bought through Sotero Ltd with loans from M5 Associates Ltd and FundingSecure Ltd. The latter has also gone belly-up.
Though not before Sonia Mancisidor repaid the FundingSecure loan on 5 April 2019, soon after the first loan was received from the Development Bank of Wales.
Judging by the companies she’s previously borrowed from it would appear that Sonia Mancisidor does not use regular banks. Or maybe regular banks say ‘No’. Which would then explain her flirting with some very iffy lenders.
The surviving lender (for now), M5 Associates Ltd, is based in Newport, and run by Peter Leslie Jeffreys and David William Mark Painter.
Sonia Mancisidor has other property companies to her name, all of which have been formed in the past three or four years.
The Business News Wales report that started this investigation says, “With prices starting at £350,000, Drovers Meadow is the latest project for family-owned development business Sotero.”
But Sonia Mancisidor is the sole director of her companies, so where’s the ‘family’?
Sotero’s only asset is the land it owns at Bronllys. Land bought with loans from two lenders, one of which is in liquidation. The title document suggests that the vendor was a Heulwen Ann Davies.
Sonia Mancisidor is quoted saying: “Drover’s Meadow is a really special development in the picturesque village of Bronllys that is attracting the interest of local families and those wishing to relocate to this beautiful part of Wales.”
With prices starting at £350,000 there’ll be more in the second category than in the first. Many, many more.
Two questions kept bubbling up in the old Jac noggin as I looked into this. The first was, ‘How did Sonia Mancisidor get to know about this land in Bronllys?’ The second, ‘For someone with no experience of building anything to suddenly jump in the deep end with £350,000 plus homes is odd – is someone else involved?’
Maybe Sonia Mancisidor has made connections in Cardiff.
If not, then someone should ask buy-to-let landlord Sonia Mancisidor from whence came the inspiration to build £350k+ houses in Powys. I’m certainly wondering.
♦
THOUGHTS
By lending money to companies to build houses the Development Bank of Wales is behaving like the institutions we used to call High Street Banks. That is surely not the DBW’s raison d’être.
From studying Haywood Homes and Sotero, the system seems to work like this. Companies borrow money to buy land in Wales, then go to the Development Bank of Wales to help them out with more money, which is used to pay off the original loan and finance the building of the houses!
Then you return to ‘Go’ and start all over again!
Is this really how the Development Bank of Wales is supposed to operate?
If speculative building companies need money then they should go to the banks. And if the banks think they’re not a good investment then the DBW shouldn’t lend them money either.
Now listen, Alwyn, I’m sure you’re a tidy boy and I don’t want you to think I’m picking on you, but . . .
You say, “Local developers like Haywood Homes and Sotero have a big social and economic impact; bringing much needed homes, jobs and supply opportunities to local communities.”
To begin with, we’ve established that these companies are not by any stretch of the imagination ‘local’ to the contracts you’re funding. The jobs created will be in the construction phase only. As for supply chains, there’s no guarantee that an English company will use Welsh suppliers; and as for Señorita Mancisidor, I’m not sure where she’ll find a supply chain.
Staying with Sonia Mancisidor, the very expensive homes she (or someone) will be building at Bronllys are obviously targeting English buyers – she says so herself. Is making Bronllys less Welsh the big “social impact” you refer to, Alwyn?
Wales is a small, poor country with a larger and richer neighbour. An unequal relationship that inevitably results in Wales losing out. This has been the case for a thousand years or more.
Yes, Wales has an economy . . . but there’s little about it that’s genuinely Welsh; whether it’s the house-building we’ve just looked at, or tourism, the retail sector, the media, finance, etc., etc.
Devolution has only made things worse, because it has given us organisations like the DBW that pretend to serve Welsh interests but in reality only perpetuate the colonial system. Yet too many of us fall for this simply because these bodies have ‘Wales’ or ‘Welsh’ in the name.
Just about the only sector of Welsh life still largely in Welsh hands is agriculture . . . and that explains why the colonial management class down the Bay has declared war on farming.
The Development Bank of Wales is one of those organisations we are expected to support and defend because it has ‘Wales’ in the name, yet in reality the DBW is just another agent of the colonial system.
♦ end ♦
Good job I never held my breath, but eventually along came a success story :
https://www.insidermedia.com/news/wales/successful-exit-for-development-bank-of-wales?utm_source=wales_newsletter&utm_campaign=wales_news_tracker&utm_medium=top_story_article.
I’m surprised that this hasn’t been covered by all sorts of media just to record a success, or maybe they refused Ken’s for some free issue T-shirts with Smiler’s grin on the front !
Hi Jac
Are you aware of the following i came across whilst doing some research into the Cunliffe/Disley gang?.
It would appear that they have changed one of their entities to your name and postcode, it seems it was only done yesterday on the 8th, was previously called Waterford Interiors Ltd
ROYSTON JONES LL36 9YF LIMITED
Company number 11750952
This is obviously not you but they have done it as some sort of game i guess, very bizarre either way!!!!, it will obviously have been donw by Cunliffe i suspect as he is the one who holds all the company authentication codes for all these entities and not the stooge directors!!.
i had to message yo here as it would not accept my captcha image on the direct contact button on the page.
Please confirm that you have received this and are aware of this bizarre situation.
Thank you.
That is me and my post code. It has been reported to Companies House, who say no law has been broken. It has also been reported to North Wales Police who spoke first with Cunliffe, who denied involvement, arguing that he was no longer a director. Which left Thomas Jacob Hindle. The police also contacted him but he too denied making the change. So it look as if it just happened. Amazing. But it’s not over yet.
They are a strange bunch indeed, i have been following this for years, even more so when Disley was up in the Preston area conducting his “business”, a long time ago.
I have to say that having met Cunliffe in person on several occasions over the years,in a social setting,that he is the least intimidating character you could ever possibly meet, i certainly wasn’t scared of him in the slightest, he is not as rich as he makes out to all and sundry i can assure you, he is a stooge for much larger players as i’m sure your aware already Jac.
As for Hindle & lets not forget Councillor Hornby, they really have not got a clue what they are getting themselves mixed up with here other than the small “payment” received for use of their name to front these entities.
North Wales Police claim no law has been broken ….. hmmmmm more like they cannot be bothered to address the clear illegalities here!!!!!.
Cunliffe will get everything he deserves one way or the other soon enough, he really should stop trying to emulate his old mucker, Jonathan, it’s not going to happen, Cunliffe is so far out of Disleys league financially, it’s unreal, instead he likes to think he’s one of the big boys when he’s nothing more than a minnow in a very risky pond!!, i think its safe to say that wannabe Myles was always known as a bit of a joke around the East Lancashire area a wannabe gangster with not much gping on and quite easily led by all accounts!!.
All the best on this Jac.
Regards .
It was Companies House that said no law had been broken by the name change. Though I’m still corresponding with them and they’re passing it from one department to another.
The latest from the police is that after speaking to Hindle he has agreed to change the name – even though he didn’t make the original change!
No surprise the co house are passing the buck from department to department!!.
Hindle agreed to change the name!, let’s see if that actually happens, i do hope so although this entity will likely go like the rest of them and simply ” dissolve” away into the ether.
Let’s see what happens ongoing.
Regards
The company is going down the tubes anyway. Changing it to my name is a kind of parting shot. Talking of ‘ongoing’, with Cunliffe exposed, Hindle and Hornby closely associated, they might need to find another front man.
A parting shot for sure, but it really doesn’t achieve much as far as i can see 🙄.
It will be very interesting to see who “fronts” the next company,some poor sap offered just a few pounds no doubt without full knowledge of what’s really going on and,if the shit hits the fan, with their name still on record, then they will be held ultimately held responsobile for any ” murky” activities.
We shall watch,wait and see 😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉
Myles is the one who holds all the Authentication codes though so if the name change does actually happen, it will be wannabe gangster Myles, who will be logging on to webfiling and tapping out the change of name form, they will gave to pay the £8 .00 fee for the change also as i’m sure your aware Jac. 🙄🙄🙄
Let’s see if it actually happens!!.
Off topic, Jane.
Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha.
Jane Davidson’s Amazon profile follows suit.
It did read “… is faculty at Harvard University”
It now reads “… was invited to become guest faculty on the Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership programme in Harvard University. ”
I still think the Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership programme in Harvard has actually got absolutely nothing to do with Harvard University. In fact, I am quite curious about how a 4 day conference costs more than an entire terms tuition at a Welsh University !!!
When I get a bit of time tomorrow, I’ll get in touch with Harvard University’s legal department and see what they make of Jane’s “Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership” guff.
As the lie of being Harvard University faculty is repeated on her book, I’ll get in touch with her American publishers to get her book “Lessons from a Small Country” pulped.
It certainly can’t be sold as it is.
It is false advertising for a publisher to say an author is a member of the Harvard faculty when she isn’t. It gives a wrong idea of the competence and the expertise of the author.
Let’s make sure Jane learns a real Lesson from a Small Country … don’t lie about your qualifications.
Keep up the good work. I’m writing now about a big fan of Davidson, and the deceitful practices that are creeping into OPD applications. It will be out tomorrow.
YBarddCwsc 2 Jane “The Organic Bullshitter” Davidson 0
Give me a chance to order a hardback copy from Amazon before the recall. Might become a collector’s item.
You’re a sucker for punishment, Stan. You’ll enjoy the article I’m publishing tomorrow.
You’ve got me bang to rights there but I’m looking forward to the next OPD instalment.
I hold the dubious distinction of buying and reading Peter Hain’s autobiography “Outside In”. (But I did get it for £0.01 off Amazon – daylight robbery if you ask me). These Labour politicians, they love to try and convince you they’ve had it tough. With Davidson, she’s only just been able to get warm in her converted barn. With Hain, when he was parachuted into Neath his book tells us he was told he’d need a decent coat to keep him warm in those bleak, cold Welsh winters. He was so poor he didn’t own one. Refusing to buy one in London he went to a local outfitter in the town. And funny old thing, just like Dr Jane, Lord Hain now lives in a converted barn as well. With solar panels giving him an income, just like the good Doctor. Oh, and he’s nice and warm as well. What a coincidence!
I listened to Carwyn Jones last night outside the INEOS proposed factory and he blamed the ‘stop’ decision on BREXIT which was of course 4 years ago. in todays DT there is detailed explanation for the possible U turn on the development ,in that the Hambach plan in France has already been kitted out by DAIMLER to build a large SUV,which would be attractive to INEOS.Accoring to the DT (so it must be right) the INEOS vehicle was to build in Portugal,then shipped to Wales for completion,which was an extremely costly way of building a car.This does seem to be a complicated way of building an SUV,by why was the public funding provided by WAG without ‘cast iron’ guarantees.This follows the decision Carwyn Jones/WAG to buy a loss making airport which the private sector wouldn’t touch with a bargepole,but good old public subsides at what cost would pay for the losses.
I think we need to ask the question of what is DBW for?
Good local and prosperous companies who increase the wealth of a local community and employ local staff on good wages are usually small to medium size enterprises, often family owned and grow organically from their own commercial success. In doing so they find a market that is sustainable and are resilient. Here is an example.
https://burnspet.co.uk/
Website.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04181441
Accounts.
This is an example of a company that sits well in the community and is able to employ staff flexibly, provide a good income, and is integrated into the local economy which can include everything from servicing the vans at the local garage to providing a local retail outlet and make a product which benefits the local area.
One thing to notice, however, as is typical in this type of business is they don’t need a complicated corporate structure, do not ‘sell-out’ to the global brands, and shy away from creditors (loans) of more than one year, putting the concern at the mercy of banks.
We need more companies like this in Wales.
So what role can DBW play?
In the old days of the WDA, back in the 80s, they had a propensity to build empty factory units in the middle of nowhere, in the hope that business would arrive. Although there were some successes, what mainly happened is that the factory units rapidly became obsolete, the initiative also ended up embroiled in dodgy land deals and corruption. This morphed into the ‘inward investment’ cheap loan enticements of the 90s up until quite recently. Cash became the prey of multi-nationals with grand schemes, who take the money and run. From ‘sick as a Parrot’ to LG, and now we see Ineos. This does not work.
There are companies who need ‘seed capital’ but not in the form of burdensome loans, and grants tend to pick a wrong un where the business folds soon after the money runs out. I suspect that the ‘leg up’ on such ventures does not lie in capitalisation, but in the application of working capital. Stuff live cheap van finance, plant amortisation, awareness advertising, R&D for refinement of product. Such ‘leg-ups’ also have the advantage of keeping wealth inside Wales are support jobs for young people in our communities. It does not allow ‘cut and run’ corporates and it also prevents foreclosure of fantasy enterprises.
This, I believe, is what DBW should concentrate on.
In my example, the entrepreneur only made one (now-solved) mistake, clear polythene bags for pet food. A bit of ‘packaging’ expertise early on would have been invaluable in the growth of the business. Of course this would have been pennies compared with development bank loans, free buildings, or cash dilution resulting in compromises in product quality.
Perhaps Mr Burns would agree.
Hello. Thanks for all the information on what’s happening in this region of the UK.I thought the point of devolution was to get rid of all the TORY ‘shysters’ and put public money/decisions in the hands of the people and their representatives.Having read some posts clearly the world is not as pure as intended,rather the reverse as the ‘shysters’ are running rings around politicians,whilst the real needs are not being met!!
I see that Cnut of the Realm Jim Ratcliffe is poised to pull the plug on his Bridgend venture before they even finish the building.
I can just imagine Smiler or one of his flunkeys saying “oh that’s all right sir, look forward to a drive in one of your new wagons when they get imported in the fullness of time, been a pleasure doing business with you. That loot we sunk in the venture ? oh no worries, it’s only small beer and we’d have only spent it on some third sector wanker anyway so no big deal. Call again when you got another bright idea. Hope all is well in Monaco or wherever you’ve parked your yacht.”
Had he pulled a caper like that with Russia he’d have been looking over his shoulder every day for the few months he’d have left of his shifty life. Opportunistic shitbag.
You surely aren’t suggesting violence against scammers, scumbags and shysters?
I shall consult my mate Vladimir Vladimirovitch and see what he advises.
Well, the time honoured tradition of rolling over every time a scumbag calls, even the titled types, hasn’t exactly enriched our country. Maybe methods used elsewhere might persuade a more sober contemplation of obligations among those inclined to the carpetbagger lifestyle.
There are two fundamental issues here; neither of which will be addressed by our leaders in Dumbo Bay.
The first is obvious and yet bares repeating – DBW exists as a development bank and its role (as was the investment arm of the former WDA) to fund development schemes that would not otherwise be funded; schemes that in the jargon of the time were “viable projects that would not go ahead in time or scale without assistance from the public sector.”
This definition did not really assist but did provide a sort of guidance, because there were two caveats. The first was that the developer had to show that all available funds had been allocated to the scheme and that there was a genuine shortfall preventing the scheme going ahead. The second was that the assistance had to fit into business activities that helped the economy (manufacturing being an example) but EXCLUDED activities that would and should be funded by the banks or the business itself; one of these was housing – a sector seen safe by the banks.
The second fundamental issue is simple – who is actually undertaking due diligence when examining these “investment” and where is the supervision of government and the appropriate minister?i.
Thanks for that contribution, John, I should have guessed you’d have something to contribute from first-hand experience. My anger was based on a simple – even simplistic – understanding of the role of a development bank. As you say, housing should not be considered.
And with these examples there are two aggravating factors. The first is that the company building the houses at Tycroes, and despite having ‘(Wales)’ in the name, is based in England. The expensive houses going up in Bronllys are being built by a woman who has never built anything before, and almost certainly doesn’t know the Brecon area. So who’s she fronting for?
And the more I think about it, the more worrying is the image of Xavier Rush. Kiwi former captain of Cardiff Blues gets loan from DBW. It suggests that being well connected in Cardiff counts for a lot, and gives people and companies based there an unfair advantage.
Off topic …… news regarding Wales very own Baron Munchausen …. “Dr” Jane Davidson.
Yesterday her profile at Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) read ” …. she is a member of the faculty of Harvard University.”
Today, after a few emails, it has been changed.
It now reads “… and in 2017, she was invited on to faculty for the Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership programme in Harvard University.”
https://www.wcpp.org.uk/about/person/dr-jane-davidson/
So, we were right !!
She once spoke at a conference in Harvard in 2017 on Education for Sustainability Leadership.
This got exaggerated into “I am a member of the faculty at Harvard University”. She is not, and never was, a member of the faculty of Harvard University.
It is like kicking a soft-ball in Manchester, and describing it as I played Premiership football at the Etihad.
Welsh Labour … smears, lies, half-truths, fabrications and fake news.
That’s a hell of a result. Well done on chasing it down. It now looks beyond doubt that Dr Davidson has been deliberately over-egging her professional connections to Harvard University. And what other skeletons may lie in the kitchen cupboard along with those organic Pembrokeshire potatoes? Her Amazon description still includes the falsehood. It will be interesting to see if it disappears soon. Who would have thought a former teacher and Assembly Minister who dealt at one time with the education of our children in both capacities could have been so duplicitous? Time for the piss poor Welsh media to pick this one up. You and Jac have done nearly all the work for the lazy buggers.
Thanks, Stan.
I was told by email that Dr Jane “did not write the biography”.
She did not write it — or even apparently read it to see if it was remotely correct !!
Others are to blame … an enthusiastic underling misunderstood, blah, blah, blah … blah, blah, blah …
But, I was thanked “for drawing it to her attention.” 😀
A small victory. A small lie nailed.
Only about a billion more lies to go and Wales will be clean again.
I reckon the dogs in the street know that’s utter bullshit. No-one would write their first book and not read their own life history that’s being used to promote it. She was on the ball enough to change what she didn’t like on her Wikipedia entry notwithstanding it was true. Someone might have drafted the biography but she wasn’t even given it to check? I don’t think so!
Yes, Stan, I agree it is utter bullshit from “Dr” Jane.
Every word she speaks including “the” and “and” is utter bullshit.
It is a lifetime’s work to shovel all “Dr” Jane’s bullshit out of Wales.
If we multiply “Dr” Jane’s bullshit by the number of bullshitting politicians and hangers-on in Corruption Bay, we have an idea of the magnitude of the problem.
Wales is a country that is truly drowning in bullshit.
In the Tomato Potty shed in Llandudoch / St Dogmaels there is a strange equation in the minds of the deluded:-
“An old BA Hons 2.2 Drama & English equals a shiny new PhD in Science”
and the Welsh academic world accepts this blatant charade without question. It puts them all into laughable disrepute especially the UWTSD college. It seems they all have no shame.
Hear, hear ! Amlwg nad yw’r Bardd yn cysgu. Efalle bydd yr hen Jane yn dihuno hefyd.
Jac. Many moons ago, using FOI Act, I requested various documents from Welsh Government relating to DBW [former Finance Wales plc]. As a result I received copies of the documents listed below. If any are helpful to you I can email them to you under separate cover.
Guidelines for Board Members of Finance Wales plc
Articles of Association of Finance Wales plc
The Welsh Ministers acting through the Welsh Government and Finance Wales plc Management Agreement
Memorandum of Association of Finance Wales plc
Yes please, Wynne.
… and this is a story with some substantial firm foundations to it :
https://businessnewswales.com/south-wales-manufacturer-set-to-become-uks-largest-supplier-of-ppe/
Good thing about this case is that the owners are investing their loot in developing a new arm to the business, and are recruiting a mix of people/skills from local communities.
No sign of DBW, but there again why should a robust business embarking on growth bother with a shower that’s not too fussy about the company it keeps ?
I just find it amazing that the assorted media that “report” on business affairs here in Wales do not appear to engage in any critical assessment of the P.R garbage that is distributed to them by these ventures or agents acting on their behalf. It may be evidence of a lack of critical thinking ability, or a lack of energy and motivation, downright idleness, or willing participants in the process of misinformation.
As for DBW they have obviously inherited the mantles of previous regime organs which have promoted the new colonialism as beneficial to us serfs in the Principality. I doubt whether we would ever find any part of our scabby Bay regime that has a genuine interest in promoting the real interests of Wales and denying access to the sundry shady dealers that appear to turn up daily.
From the DBW’s point of view I can see the problem of hostile publicity when they back a wrong ‘un, but giving money for luxury homes is going too far in the direction of safety.
Where the ‘Welsh Government’ went wrong was in listening to grandiose schemes like the Circuit of Wales and the Swansea tidal lagoon, not because the schemes themselves were inherently impossible, but because of the shysters promoting them.
The ‘middle way’ should be encouraging indigenous businesses to start, and to grow. To help build up a truly Welsh economy. £5.6m spent this way would do a lot more for Wales than wasting that amount on these schemes.
Luxury homes projects developed by suspect ventures offers scope for 2 own goals. That is going some even for DBW.
How well do they understand the motivations of these businesses ?. Housing may seem a “safe bet” but if the directors start awarding themselves big salaries and other benefits or start paying “fees” to some other part of their portfolio we soon get to a point where insolvency looms. They walk away leaving creditors and DBW scratching around for pennies in the pound. A recurring pattern in Wales.
Exactly. DBW shouldn’t be dealing with house building. It’s what banks and other lenders do.
DBW could be acting on orders from the minister, Ken Skates, relating to a much bigger scheme which involves the closure of Bronllys hospital some one mile distant along with the downgrade of Neville Hall Hospital in Abergavenney, and there’s a scheme to build a new MIU or other more modern facility on the field next door to this housing plot part, in a deal funded by the proceeds.
There are also two large caravan parks, one to the north and one to the south in Bronllys. Ideal for posh houses.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.0065011,-3.2472972,1486m/data=!3m1!1e3
These ‘good doctors’ who have left general practice and gone into ‘consultancy’ may have got wind of much larger plans and having the opportunity to cash in. We are assuming the ‘medical finance’ and the subsequent ‘DBW rescue loan’ for this development is solely for the land footprint and procurement of these houses. There could be bigger plans we cannot yet see. Just a thought.
Another big plan for this area is The Black Mountains College, funded by George Soros. I have written about this.
The ‘student accommodation’ building spree in Swansea and Cardiff, is quickly followed by their conversion to ‘residential apartments’. It’s a scam to get planning permission; all you have to do is use the ‘education ruse’. Even before the topping out has completed, apply for change of use. It wouldn’t surprise me that there’s a ‘student campus’ in the pipeline for this area of Powys with the final destination of these properties as ‘holiday chalets’.
Kirsty, the local MS is, of course, the education minister, she having been co-opted into the Labour led Welsh Government who have a knack of forcing through planning consent against local opposition. Plaid Bradwyr Cymru, don’t regard the area as part of Wales so don’t stand candidates for election in this constituency.
It is likely that the DBW loan to Sotero, a company owed by the Cardiff buy-to-let operator Sonia Mancisidor was ‘rescue finance’. If you look at the chronology of the loans to the Sotero companies, they start with a loan from M5 associates, paid off with a new loan from FundingSecure, which is in turn paid off by a loan from DBW.
M5 associates specialise in low interest loans, typically in the medical sector. Stuff like premises for GP surgeries and dentists. This is where there is low risk, as the occupiers have a good income and can ‘pass on’ the business to other incumbents. They do not finance new-build residential. That’s higher risk.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10177731
It is likely that Sonia obtained this finance with the assistance of her husband Dr Jens Carsten Klocke, who was a locum GP at Abercynon in 2013, but no longer appears on the register. They have a company together run from their home in Rhiwbina, Cardiff. When the lender found out the project in Bronllys, secured on the land, was not a low risk medical venture but a residential development they may have called in the loan.
A loan was then granted by FundingSecure as a replacement. This is a ‘too good to be true’ finance deal, and we find FundingSecure in receivership and no doubt the liquidator would have eventually pulled the loan to Sonia. Hence the search for a replacement. This is when we see the arrival of the rescue loan from DBW. This raises the question as to why DBW did this, especially as Sonia has numerous buy-to-let equity in Cardiff and a substantial property in Rhiwbina which she didn’t want to put at risk into the venture at Bronllys?
Cardiff is plagued by buy-to-let landlords like Sonia, preventing young people getting onto the housing ladder. In south Powys the indigenous communities are also at a disadvantage due to the local of affordable homes. The Bronllys development exassipates both.
So why are DBW financing this set-up?
I knew about the good doctor but didn’t mention him because he seemed to be an ‘innocent party’, as it were. Though the medical connection takes another turn with Damon Hywel Ormonde, who was briefly Mancisidor’s partner in Global Property Consultancy Ltd
Another of Ormonde’s companies is D H Ormonde Ltd, which has 12 outstanding charges for domestic properties, almost certainly buy-to-lets. The other director, presumably Ormonde’s wife, is Dr Chloe Elizabeth Ormonde.
Another mystery has cropped up. The title number given on the charge against Haywood Homes (Llanarth) Ltd, WA485752, does not – according to Companies House – belong to Haywood.
I do think the answer lies in the loans and risks.
If you’re a local building firm with a proven track record you could get a loan from a normal bank. Got this field, see, if I get planning permission can I have a few grand to build a house. No problem.
If you’re one of the big boys, like Taylor Wimpey, you get loans from normal banks because the risk is spread over a huge operation. If the site construction is delayed due to weather or the sales price won’t cover it due to house price volatility, there’s another development on the burner which will make up the shortfall.
Sonia is neither of these.
If a medical doctor goes into one of their specialist loan companies, thinking of building a surgery, maybe an annexe for retirement, there’s low risk. Not subject to the vagaries of residential house prices. It’s the foot in the door, and a medic is never short of money if they can take the toil.
Has DBW been taken for a ride?
Do they know the sector they are dealing with?