Jersey-based property investment company Ciref has stressed that a number of retail development schemes originally under the auspices of developer Modus are continuing as normal, despite Modus Ventures entering administration.
Described by administrator KPMG as a “management business hub” for over 40 Modus business units, Modus Ventures went into administration last week following the collapse of three of its subsidiaries earlier in the year. Modus Trinity Walk Wakefield went into administration in March, and Modus Properties (Wigan) and Modus (Wigan), which own the long leasehold of the Grand Arcade shopping centre, followed suit last month.
However, Ciref chief executive Mike Watters stressed that, as a business partner with Modus, his company had recognised that the developer was in difficulty last year and had acted quickly to take over ownership of the ongoing schemes at Friar’s Walk in Newport, Delamere Place in Crewe and Coventry’s West Orchards Shopping Centre. Ciref is managed by South African fund Corovest.
The exact fate of other Modus pipeline projects will not be known for at least a week as the complex nature of the company’s structure is unpicked. A KPMG spokeswoman confirmed that with each business unit set up as a limited company with different investment backers, it would take some time to establish the financial picture for each individual company.
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