Official Receiver: British American Building Sold
The Official Receiver, in his capacity as provisional liquidator of British American, issued a statement today [June 20] confirming the sale of the building previously housing the offices of British American has now been completed.
It said, “Given the prevailing market conditions, completing a sale of the building has taken a considerable period of time and for a price considerably lower than the original valuation of the building of $3.8m, when the liquidation of British American commenced.
“Following an extensive sales process and negotiations with potential purchasers, an offer was received and accepted, resulting in Bram-ber Holdings Limited, the Company which owned the building, receiving net proceeds of $1.628m.
“British American holds a 40% interest in Bram-ber Holdings Limited and will receive its share of the proceeds, currently estimated to be $650,000, following the liquidation of Bram-ber. The liquidation of Bram-ber is expected to take up to two months, following which the funds received by British American will be available for distribution to Scheme Creditors. Based on this timeline, it is expected that cheques representing final distribution payments will be sent out to Scheme Creditors during August 2013.
“The sale of the building for less than originally forecast will have a significant impact on the funds available for a final distribution to Scheme Creditors. Based on current estimates, the final distribution to creditors under the Scheme of Arrangement will be in the region of 2.5 to 3 cents on each $1 dollar of a Scheme Creditor’s previously agreed claim. The first distribution of 35 cents on the dollar was paid in December 2011. After payment of this second distribution, Scheme Creditors will have received a total of approximately 38 cents on the dollar.
“The Official Receiver will provide a report with the final distribution cheques, providing a summary of the conduct of the liquidation of the Bermuda branch of British American. This report will include details of the assets realized and distributed to Scheme Creditors, the expenses incurred during the liquidation and append a document providing answers to questions frequently asked by Scheme Creditors.
“The Official Receiver is taking steps to finalize arrangements with the Judicial Manager of British American in the Bahamas to allow for the completion of the liquidation of the Bermuda branch. This is not expected to delay the payment of final distributions to Bermuda Scheme Creditors.
“The terms of the Scheme of Arrangement require the Official Receiver to make payments by cheque. Cheques will be mailed to each Scheme Creditor’s last known address. In order to ensure that we have your up-to-date address on file, if you have moved address since the first distribution in December 2011, we request that you call the British American hotline (294-2651) to update your address on record.
“The Official Receiver is conscious of the fact that there is a cost associated with cashing cheques in Bermuda. As a result Scheme Creditors will be given the opportunity to return their cheques and request that their distribution be paid by on-line transfer upon providing the necessary information. Details of what action is required by Scheme Creditors to take up this option will be included in the envelope containing your cheque.
Stephen Lowe, the Official Receiver commented “I am pleased that we have now been able to complete a sale of the building, and we can commence preparations to pay final distributions to Scheme Creditors. Unfortunately, due to market conditions, the final sale price of the building was much lower than originally expected and this will mean that the final distribution available to Scheme Creditors will be less than we had hoped. I am grateful for the continued patience exhibited by Scheme Creditors during this process and look forward to bringing this difficult matter to a close.”
Policyholders or Creditors can obtain further information with regard to British American by emailing infoba@kpmg.bm or by calling the British American hotline on 294-2651.
2.5 to 3 cents on each $1 dollar
This is absolutely ridiculous. Robbery!!!!!
I’m sick of KPMG, not only do I have to deal with their issues with British American but with White & Sons as well and I’m not the only one.
[Promotions edited out by by Bernews.]
Like I said, there needs to be an official investigation into this whole fiasco! this thing has been handled very badly from the start and the policyholders have been treated horribly. I want to know exactly how much KPMG was paid for their services over the THREE years that it took to settle this! They are the real winners here. When the company went into receivership, FIVE employees stayed on including an agent. Why did they need an agent to help with the winding up? Why did it take THREE YEARS during which time this staff was paid? What was going on during that time?
Why was the manager allowed to stay on? Lots of stuff went on behind the scenes before the regulators stepped in and it all happened under her watch and it came out that she didn’t even have the necessary experience to run an insurance company! Yet this is the person who stayed on and benefitted from a cushy salary for three years? WHY???
People are too soft in this country. I paid my premiums faithfully every month only for it to be STOLEN from me. If I had scammed the public like this company did I’d be in prison. This isn’t the first time this has happened with an insurance company in Bermuda. What is being done to protect policyholders in this country against this stuff? We handed over our hard earned money-money that could have been used for OUR benefit-and then get cents on the dollar in return? Who’s to say this doesn’t happen again if we aren’t even told how it was allowed to happen this time.
I’m going to speak to some of the other policyholders about taking some kind of legal action to demand some answers because I’m sure that whatever is released is just more of the spin and bullshi+ we’ve been fed for the past almost four years now.
Bernews, can you print that you edited out my first couple of sentences so that it explains why the first sentence doesn’t make sense. People will wonder why I said “Like I said…” when I haven’t made any previous comments here!
Well, I hope KPMG also receives 2.5 to 3 cents on what was their liquidation fee. But its too late because their fee was established and put in place prior to the liquidation of British American. So yes, they will not suffer a loss. I am still upset to know that a deposit fund was not set up to protect us policyholders in the event of something like this. I paid for over 20 years. I should have paid attention to my first mind and stuffed it under the mattress. I guess my final payment will be handed to me in coins.
I feel badly for the seniors.
I was under the impression that the only reason why we are getting money back is because of the said fund the Bermuda Government made them establish when they went belly up the first time. However, I am not certain if all of the money in the fund is gone as it was suppose to just be for policy holders – the Company should not have benefited from that fund and only the policy holders should have been given their money back from that fund – provided it could cover everyone’s policy – and if not the difference should have come from the sale of the property and other assets.
I think that the waiver we all signed off on gave KPMG access to the fund without notification to us as to what the money is being used for.
But where is the rest of my money. it does not take that long to generate a check.