FINANCING THE DEALS
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Finance company Boston & Maine and sister company Boston Commercial Finance have been involved in funding several haulage company purchases over the past few years.
These have included North East haulier Eric Short Haulage, European Freight Link, and Norfolk-based John Mack (Haulage).
It has also been connected with the takeovers of Matthew Cornish Transport, Molloy European Transport Services, J Smiths Haulage and Bildor Transport Services.
In each case, the company’s assets were used to fund the acquisition by third parties, but which later left them vulnerable.
The finance company was also at the centre of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into suspected asset stripping, but the case was dropped in September 2009.
The investigation started in February 2008 following a referral from the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and involved “Boston & Maine and related companies”, according to the SFO, and was conducted with the assistance of West Midlands Police.
However, an SFO spokeswoman tells CM: “It was discontinued and no action was taken. We have to meet the Crown Prosecution Service test, and there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.”