A judge in Manchester has approved a winding up order for UK Renewable Investments, which sold corporate bonds to 208 people between July 2015 and September 2016.
Around £2.5m ($3.3m, €2.9m) was raised and investors were told their funds would go towards developing anaerobic digestion plants that generated renewable energy.
The bonds had a five-year term and were sold on the basis they would generate returned of 11% per annum.
Interest was to be paid every six months after the first year, with full redemption at the five-year mark.
How it failed
Most of the money raised was loaned to a separate company called Bio Green Energy. It was intended to pay for the construction of 15 anaerobic digestion plants in Northern Ireland.
Each was to be held in its own special purpose vehicle company, owned by Bio Green.
But they were never completed and all 15 special purpose vehicles have been dissolved.
Bio Green was placed into administration in May 2017.
As a result, it could not repay the capital and interest on its loan from UK Renewable Investments; which, in-turn, could not pay interest to bondholders.
Just £15,000 had been paid back to the investment firm by Bio Green ahead of it entering administration.
Investors received just £14,000 in interest payments.
Also at fault
The court found that UK Renewable Investments also had not acted appropriately or in the best interest of its clients.
For example, it had exercised borrowing powers without obtaining a trading certificate from the Registrar of Companies and failed to maintain, preserve or deliver adequate books and records to the investigators.
The chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, David Hope, said: “Despite accepting millions of pounds of investment from members of the public, the company failed to exercise appropriate governance and control over how those monies were spent.
“Unfortunately, it is the investors who will suffer and this should serve as a warning that there are strict obligations companies need to adhere to when they raise money from members of the public.”
