A BRITISH ostrich farming company, which has been raising money Ireland, has been wound up by the British Government.

The Ostrich Farming Corporation, which ran advertisements in Irish newspapers in recent months to encourage investors to put their money into ostrichs, was closed last week after the British Official Receiver was appointed to the company by the government.

The amount of monies the company may have raised in Ireland is so far unknown.

The scheme, which invited investors to buy an ostrich, was operated from a Dublin based office, at Clifton House in Dublin and offered a guaranteed return on monies invested.

The Ostrich Farming Corporation said in its advertisements that it has been farming since 1986, providing investment returns for private and corporate investors.

Undertaking to provide all of the livery, veterinary, insurance and breeding services for the ostriches which ranged in price from £1,500 to £17,700, the corporation offered investors a guaranteed buy back option, where the ostrich and its offspring may be sold back to the company after a fixed period.

This buy back option, it claimed, would give investors a minimum cumulative return of up to 190.77 per cent over the first five years.

Investors, who have spent money on buying an ostrich from the Ostrich Farming Corporation, will not be entitled to compensation under the Associated Investors Compensation Scheme, as the scheme is not regulated by the Personal Investment Authority.

That body has taken the view that buying an animal or bird under such an arrangement is a not the same as investing in shares in a company, and it does not act as a regulator to protect such investors.