Documented Case

High Street Group Limited

A Newcastle property developer funded by unregulated investor bonds collapsed into administration in December 2021 with liabilities of around £211m, leaving individual bondholders very substantially out of pocket.

Investment type: Unregulated property development bonds and loan notes
Documented investor losses: Liabilities of approximately £211m on administration; investors reported left £123m out of pocket
Date / period: Administration December 2021; subsequently liquidated
Relevant organisation: Administrators / liquidators
Nature of the matter: Insolvency — administration and liquidation

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The investment

High Street Group Limited, a Newcastle-based property developer responsible for schemes including Hadrian's Tower, raised money from individual investors through unregulated property bonds and loan notes to fund development projects.

What investors were told

Investors were told the bonds were supported by development assets and would pay fixed rates of return out of development profits.

What went wrong

The group entered administration in December 2021 with liabilities of approximately £211m according to administrators' filings.

A successor vehicle, Hadrian Real Estate plc, took on certain assets and obligations but failed to file accounts, and administrators publicly raised concerns about it in January 2024.

Investor impact

Individual bondholders were reported to have been left more than £100m out of pocket, with reporting on the eventual liquidation putting the figure at £123m.

Regulatory, insolvency and court action

Administration in December 2021, followed by liquidation. Administrators undertook to investigate the circumstances of the collapse.

Current documented position

The company has been liquidated. Investor recovery prospects have been reported as poor, and the position of the successor vehicle has itself been questioned.

Key Lesson

Unregulated property bonds carry no FSCS protection and no Financial Ombudsman route against the issuer. Where a bond was recommended by a regulated adviser, that adviser — not the issuer — is often the only realistic route.

Source & Further Information

Companies House filing history — High Street Group Limited
Companies House / administrators' reports — published Administration December 2021 onwards
View the official source

These case studies summarise matters recorded in public sources including FCA publications, Insolvency Service and Serious Fraud Office material on GOV.UK, court judgments and the Companies House register. They are provided for information only, are not legal advice, and do not describe work carried out by BJM Recovery Ltd for any client. Where an investigation or set of proceedings remains open, the position stated is the position recorded at the date of the cited source.

BJM Recovery Ltd

How We Approach Investment Loss Cases

Every investment recovery matter is assessed individually. The circumstances of the investment, the available evidence, the parties involved and the applicable recovery process will determine the appropriate course of action.

Our starting point in any matter is the documentation. We reconstruct the investment chronologically from agreements, payment records, statements, correspondence and marketing material, and we establish precisely which entities and individuals were involved at each stage, and in what capacity.

We then examine what is on the public record: the Companies House position, any insolvency appointments, regulatory publications, enforcement action and court proceedings. Public records frequently determine which routes remain open, whether that is a creditor claim in an insolvency, a claim against a regulated party in the advice or pension chain, participation in a distribution administered by a regulator, or civil proceedings.

Where a matter has been formally referred to us, we deal with the referring organisation directly and work within the process that applies to that referral.

If you have lost money through an investment that has failed, become insolvent or stopped communicating, we can review the information available and set out the position clearly.

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Have you experienced something similar?

Investment losses can be complex and every situation is different. If you have lost money through an investment that has failed, become insolvent or stopped communicating, our team can assess the information available and discuss the potential next steps.

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