Dragons’ Den star’s bust corporate finance firm owed almost £2m to employees and advisers, administrators’ report reveals
The corporate finance firm of former Dragons' Den star Julie Meyer, which was put into administration at the end of last year, owes almost £2m to unpaid employees and advisers, City A.M. can reveal.
Ariadne Capital, which was founded and owned by TV personality Julie Meyer, owes £530,692 to 14 current and former employees, according to an administrators' report published this week and seen by City A.M.
Meyer's company also owes a massive £794,897 to businesses including City law firm Clifford Chance, taxi firm Addison Lee and the City of Westminster. These sums range from £1,000 to £184,359.
Other unsecured creditors included HM Revenue & Customs, which is owed £471,089 in unpaid National Insurance contributions, and Barclays, which is owed £172,193.
Meyer claimed that she put Ariadne Capital, which started life managing her venture capital fund before becoming more primarily involved in corporate finance activities, into administration due to "actions of the former managing director".
Yet Meyer was the only registered director of Ariadne Capital, and the "shadow" managing director is owed more than a quarter of a million pounds by the firm in unpaid wages. The managing director is currently battling Meyer over her allegations, City A.M. understands.
The administrators, Leonard Curtis, also cast doubt on Meyer's assertion that she put the firm into administration "due to the actions of the former managing director". In fact, GQ Employment Law – a firm which itself is owed several thousands of pounds by Ariadne in unpaid fees, after representing the firm in a case bought by a former employee – launched a winding up petition against the company. This would have pushed Ariadne into liquidation, with the aim of GQ being able to recover its debt.
Ariadne Capital and GQ were negotiating to settle the case before another creditor decided to support the petition. In the words of the administrators' report, the company "was not in a position to meet both liabilities", so Meyer appointed Leonard Curtis to wind up the company. She maintains that she intended to acquire it as a going concern out of administration.
What next?
The administrators have advised that there will be little – if any – money left to pay unsecured creditors when the company is wound up. Employees, who were all made redundant when Ariadne went into administration, may be able to claim redundancy pay, a payment in respect of compensation in lieu of notice, arrears of pay and holiday pay from the Insolvency Service.
City A.M. understands that a number of former employees have tried to enforce legal claims against Ariadne for unpaid wages, but have been unable to since the firm is in administration.
Meyer also runs businesses including networking programme EntrepreneurCountry and investment platform ECO2 through an entirely separate vehicle.
Not the end of the story
EntrepreneurCountry was founded as an Ariadne Capital subsidiary, but was later sold to Meyer's venture capital fund for £4.5m. "Our investigations regarding this transaction are ongoing," the administrators' interim report states.
Administrators also added that they have "received a large number of complaints" regarding the conduct of Meyer, which are also subject to ongoing investigations. The report did not comment further "so not as to prejudice any possible future legal actions".