NBFIRA appoints Bluthorn liquidator

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday March 22, 2021 14:32

 

NBFIRA appoints Bluthorn liquidator

This follows a High Court judgment on the 19th February 2021 which placed Bluthorn under liquidation. 

'Chris Bray has, accordingly, been appointed by the High Court as the provisional liquidator of Bluthorn,' reads a statement from the regulatory authority.

As a provisional liquidator, Bray is in control of, and responsible for carrying out all functions as may be necessary for the beneficial winding up of Bluthorn, including to carry on or discontinue any part of the respective business of Bluthorn pending the First Meeting of Creditors.

Last year NBFIRA filed an application to liquidate Bluthorn Fund Managers after the regulatory authority discovered during its supervisory activities in May 2019 that Bluthorn was not fully compliant with the relevant financial services laws. It was further discovered Bluthorn had channelled the majority of investor funds into one of its related companies being Prime Employee Benefits.

Failure by the management of Bluthorn Fund Managers to satisfactorily and timeously rectify the areas of non-compliance observed, despite repeated engagements, led the Authority to place it under temporary closure from January to April 2020 and then subsequently under statutory management from April 2020 to date.

NBFIRA licensed Bluthorn Fund Managers in 2016 to operate as a Collective Investment Undertaking within the capital markets industry, having satisfied the licensing and legislative requirements.