Bannatyne ‘extremely frustrated’ that bid to buy out Anglo borrowings not accepted

Duncan Bannatyne, the Scottish entrepreneur and star of BBC's Dragons' Den, says he is "extremely frustrated" that an offer to buy out out his borrowings of £115 million (€138.6 million) owed to the former Anglo Irish Bank at 95 pence in the pound has not been accepted.

Mr Bannatyne said he made the offer to KPMG, the special liquidator of Anglo – later renamed IBRC – on December 17th last. He said he had not received an acknowledgement of his bid which was at a small discount to par to reflect the transaction costs of refinancing.

“I can’t understand how they haven’t got back to me,” Mr Bannatyne said. “I read in your paper earlier in the week the bank considered me one of their special borrowers [a so-called high-profile person]. I don’t feel like that at the moment.”

Mr Bannatyne's bid to buy out the debt of his fitness chain, Bannatyne Fitness, was backed, he said, by Royal Bank of Scotland and M&G Investments, an investment manager with £242 billion of assets.

Letter to KPMG
In a letter to KPMG making his offer, Mr Bannatyne said his fitness chain was "extremely frustrated by IBRC's inability to assist it" with its day-to-day activities.

“In particular, the sale of our excess land at Burton-on-Trent in February 2013 was delayed. . . and additional costs were incurred as a result of the liquidation. In essence, IBRC has been a zombie bank for a number of years, which has hampered our ability to grow and develop,” it added. As a result of this and the cost of refinancing, Mr Bannatyne said he believed his company was “entitled to make an open offer to acquire its loan at a discount”.

“This offers suggests a discount of £5,748,455 which is hardly enough to cover our transaction costs and does not ask for exclusivity, thus allowing you to attempt to garner higher offers even after accepting this offer,” Mr Bannatyne told KPMG.

The offer was, he said, made up of a combination of bank facilities and the proceeds of a £92 million property transaction to be executed with M&G.

Due diligence
All sides had carried out extensive due diligence, he said, and were in a position to complete the deal by February 9th.

"I truly believe that this offer is in the best interests of IBRC, its creditors and the people of Ireland to whom you are accountable and who should be aware of its terms," Mr Bannatyne's letter concludes.

KPMG said it was unable to comment on individual clients.

Bannatyne Fitness’s initial £180 million loan from Anglo in 2006 has been reduced by repayments to £120 million, accounts for the company show.