Capital landmark owner goes into administration
THE company that owns the historic Coal Exchange building in Cardiff has gone into administration.
Signature Living Coal Exchange Limited went into administration on May 6, we can reveal today, according to papers filed with insolvencies records holder The Gazette.
It comes just four months after Cardiff council offered a £2m loan to the Signature Living Group to help it finish the controversial development.
The company that operates the Exchange Hotel in the building is still operating.
Signature Living Coal Exchange’s most recently published accounts, for the year ended March 31, 2018, show it had assets worth £10.4m and debts of £19m.
The Exchange hotel is part of a portfolio of hotels owned by Liverpool developer Lawrence Kenwright, which includes the flagship Shankly Hotel in central Liverpool and the luxury George Best Hotel in Belfast. Both of these fell into administration last month.
In addition, Signature Living Hotel Limited, which used to be the parent company to the Coal Exchange, is also in administration.
Signature Living Hotel Limited was the sole shareholder in Signature Living Coal Exchange Limited until March 6, 2020.
According to Companies House information, the shareholdings in the Coal Exchange were transferred to a new company called UK Accommodation Group Limited, which is also owned by Mr Kenwright, on this date.
On April 29, UK Accommodation Group Limited subsequently changed its name to Smazzler Limited.
According to the London Gazette, Wilson Field Ltd has been appointed administrators.
A spokesperson for Wilson Field yesterday said: “I can confirm that Kelly Burton and Lisa Jane Hogg of Wilson Field have been appointed administrators of Signature Living Coal Exchange Ltd.
“We will be issuing our proposals within eight weeks of appointment which will provide further details for creditors. We have no further comment to make at this time.”
It marks the latest chapter in the chequered recent past of a building steeped in the capital’s coal-dealing history.
The building, where it is reputed the world’s first £1m cheque was signed in the days when south Wales was the centre of the world’s coal trade, had been falling into dereliction for many years. The 132-year-old venue, once the headquarters of the region’s coal industry, was used for concerts and events until it was closed without notice in June 2013 for safety reasons.
In 2016, when Signature Living began restoring the badly-damaged Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay, it was one of the most rapidly expanding businesses in the country.
Like many in the hospitality sector, the coronavirus pandemic lockdown has hit Signature hard and administrators have now been called in at a number of the group’s companies.
Cardiff council offered a loan to Signature Living in January this year, but confirmed yesterday that this money had not been paid yet.
A spokesman for the council said: “The council can confirm that the loan has not been provided, but the council is in ongoing discussions with the various parties that have a significant interest in the building, with a view to get the building works completed.”
A number of investors from around the world have spoken to the Western Mail about the money they say they are owed, after investing in the company behind the Exchange Hotel. In some cases the amounts run into tens of thousands of pounds.
Cardiff South and Penarth MP Stephen Doughty spoke out in 2014 claiming there had been a lack of transparency about the process leading up to the announcement that Signature Living was handed the dilapidated Exchange building from Cardiff council.
Responding to the fact that Signature Living Coal Exchange Ltd had gone into administration, Mr Doughty maintained that questions over Mr Kenwright’s past bankruptcies, financial dealings and disqualifications are still unanswered.