TYCOON’S FIRM GOES BUST OVER £12m DEBT

Snowie Solutions in the red

A company owned by well-known Stirling businessman Euan Snowie has debts of more than £12 million.

The information is revealed in a report prepared by joint administrators appointed to handle the affairs of Snowie Solutions Ltd.

Mr Snowie (right) made a fortune from his family waste management firm, which in 2001 was paid £38 million for the disposal of millions of animal carcasses following the nationwide foot-and-mouth outbreak. The company was sold in 2005 for £40 million.

Snowie Solutions was incorporated in May, 2001, and involved in the development and letting of commercial and residential property in the Stirling area.

It was part of Euan Snowie Holdings Ltd owned by Mr Snowie and wife Claire, both 49, of Boquhan Estate, near Kippen.

Mr and Mrs Snowie, who separated in February, were subject of a sequestration

order brought by London-based finance house Close Brothers and granted at Stirling Sheriff Court on August 1.

Sequestration meant they were restricted from acting as directors of the company or involved in its management.

The Snowies indicated they were going to have the sequestration order `recalled’but when this didn’t happen Clydesdale Bank – who say they are owed £4.1m – sought the appointment of Administrators.

James Stephen and Sarah Rayment, of accountants BDO, were named as joint administrators on September 19 following an action in the Court of Session.

In a report, dated November 14, they outlined proposals to market the company’s portfolio of eight residential properties and the freehold of three commercial properties to help pay off some of the debts to secured or preferred creditors.

However, they warn in their report that even after assets are sold ordinary creditors – estimated to be owed £8.15m – can expect “very little benefit”and no dividend.

The administrators say after allowing for costs, the value of the company’s property – after payment of preferential claims – will be less than £10,000. The firm has no employees.

Residential properties include two flats in Queens Mews, Bridge of Allan, and two flats in the town’s Henderson Street.

Two flats in King Street, Stirling, are also on the market as is the Old Lodge at Boquhan Estate, valued at £300,000.

Hotel, bar and restaurant Cooks in Upper Craigs and a mid-terraced three-storey building in King Street, both Stirling, are up for sale with Johnston’s bar and bistro in Lint Riggs, Falkirk.

The property in Upper Craigs was part of a portfolio of hotels owned by Mr Snowie. The collection included the former Queen’s Hotel, Bridge of Allan, which was acquired in 2006 and re-branded the Adamo.

Two years later he snapped up the property in Upper Craigs three weeks after it went on the market for £2m.

In February, 2014, HM Customs and Excise applied to Stirling Sheriff Court for Adamo Hotels Ltd to be wound up and a liquidator appointed. A short time later Snowie Solutions leased the Upper Craigs property to chef Paul Cook.

A member of Cook’s staff, who did not want to be named, said the business was running as normal and unaffected by the sale of the property’s freehold.

Christie’s say the property in King Street was initially acquired with plans for a licensed lounge and restaurant with a dance floor in the basement and letting rooms on the second floor.

Planning permission and the building warrant were obtained for the construction of a licensed venue.

Regional director at Christie’s Brian Sheldon said:“We expect to see strong demand for the three properties and have already received`notes of interest’on behalf of operators and investors whom are keen on the properties. Offers will be considered on an individual basis or as a package,”

Christie’s is seeking £325,000 for the freehold of Johnston’s Bar and Bisto, £550,000 for the freehold of Cooks and £495,000 for the freehold of the development site in King’s Street.

An offer has already been made for a fourth commercial property at Kelliebank.

Mr Snowie, who once tried unsuccessfully to ban ramblers from Boquhan, has been no stranger to Stirling Sheriff Court recently.

He was fined £1000 in 2016 for assaulting his elder daughter Louise and admonished when he appeared at court in April for smashing windows in his wife’s farmhouse.