Latest news with #AlvarezAndMarsal
CBC
23-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Alberta's largest cattle industry lender to restart loan program after province lifts order
The Alberta government says loans will resume at Picture Butte Feeder Cooperative, the province's largest cattle financing co-op, now that it's compliant with the rules on feeder associations. The PBFC is part of the province's Feeders Association Loan Guarantee (FALG) Program , which helps livestock producers get easier access to loans. Earlier this year, then-minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, RJ Sigurdson, signed an order that stated the province would prohibit the co-op from issuing further advances to its members under the program. An inspection had alleged a number of regulatory and financial mismanagement issues. The entire board subsequently resigned, and a restructuring officer, Alvarez & Marsal, was appointed to oversee PBFC's operations and work toward lifting the loan suspension. The order was rescinded on May 1, according to the province. "The co-operative, working under Alvarez and Marsal Canada's sound management, has brought its operations into compliance with the rules governing feeder associations. It is now compliant with the rules on feeder associations and is being operated soundly," reads a statement from the Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation. "On Monday, May 26, producers can confidently apply for and receive loans from the PBFC as it resumes full operations. "The government will continue to provide oversight of and advice to the PBFC — and other feeder co-operatives — to ensure the Feeder Associations Loan Guarantee Program continues with its success." An 'exceptionally trying time' The Feeder Association of Alberta, the provincial umbrella organization, said the past few months have been "an exceptionally trying time for the many members of PBFC that have had their operations put on hold through no fault of their own." "We recognize the pace of business has no sympathy for interruptions and acknowledge the very tough financial position members were placed in," the organization wrote in a release issued Thursday. George L'Heureux, a spokesperson for the Feeder Association of Alberta, said it will be "business as usual" starting Monday morning, with normal lending scheduled that day. "For the producers, boots on the ground, it's been very challenging … waiting and not knowing is huge, and not being able to do business as usual was quite a hardship on quite a few," he said. The co-op will still be run by the receiver for the time being. According to Alvarez & Marsal, a new local supervisor, Cody McBride, has been appointed. Efforts are underway to run a fair and transparent election to appoint a new board of directors, the receiver added. The co-operative is based in "Feedlot Alley," located in southern Alberta.
Telegraph
20-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
EY ‘never even opened the books' in £2bn hospital ‘fraud'
EY has been accused of 'extremely serious' failings in its audit of failed hospital operator NMC Health. The 'big four' accountancy giant is battling claims that it failed to spot an alleged multibillion-pound fraud at the former FTSE 100 company, which was plunged into bankruptcy in 2020. Administrators at Alvarez & Marsal have since launched a £2bn lawsuit against EY in the High Court over claims that its shortcomings resulted in NMC's failure. In court documents released on Monday, EY is accused of allowing three of the company's biggest shareholders to steal billions of pounds. Lawyers have claimed that EY's accountants 'never even opened the books' during their time auditing NMC Health between 2012 and 2018. They argued: 'EY never gained access to the group's transaction-level records in a way that allowed them to be meaningfully audited, and did not identify the fact that a massive fraud was being committed by posting manipulated entries.' NMC Health was founded by Indian entrepreneur BR Shetty in 1974, who floated the business on the London Stock Exchange in 2012. At its peak, NMC Health owned 45 hospitals and 15 pharmacies throughout the UAE and Europe, including in the UK, Sweden and Latvia. However, the business collapsed after its three main backers, Dr Shetty, Khalifa bin Butti and Saeed bin Butti, allegedly extracted billions in cash. All three have denied wrongdoing. Dr Shetty has claimed he was a victim of a wider fraud. The High Court subsequently froze Dr Shetty's assets in 2022, including a luxury London penthouse. According to the court documents, management of NMC Health at the time put forward 'implausible and contradictory reasons' to prevent EY's auditors from accessing the company's accounts. EY's auditors instead relied on limited information about NMC Health's finances, obtained by 'looking at a single screen, over the shoulder of an NMC employee'. 'If EY … had obtained proper access to [NMC Health's] general ledgers, the fraud would have quickly become apparent,' the administrators have argued. 'The ledgers were littered with thousands of entries that had been manipulated and were on their face indicative of fraud, including the hidden borrowing.' US short seller Muddy Waters subsequently raised allegations of fraud in a report published in December 2019. Shares in NMC Health subsequently fell 32pc. The administrators have also accused EY's auditors of 'pulling the wool over the eyes' of the firm's own investigators by working to cover up their failures. EY has denied the claims and instead argued it was the 'principal target and victim' of the alleged fraud, and claims that the case is 'without merit'. 'Everyone to whom EY might realistically have turned for information about the finances of NMC was actually engaged in practising the wholesale deception of EY,' the firm has argued. EY has also accused the administrators of having 'shied away' from pursuing those who committed the alleged fraud, including the bin Butti brothers. Khalifa bin Butti said in 2020 that 'any suggestion that I have been involved in wrongdoing is categorically rejected', according to The Times.
Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Times
EY in High Court for £2bn claim by NMC Health administrators
The High Court trial for a multibillion-pound claim brought by the administrator of NMC Health against EY, the former auditor of the collapsed FTSE 100 company, is set to start on Monday. Insolvency practitioners at Alvarez & Marsal filed a claim against EY, one of the big four accounting firms, three years ago for breach of contract and duty of care, and negligence relating to EY's work for NMC between 2012 and 2018. The claim is expected to be for in the region of £2 billion. Alvarez & Marsal was appointed in April 2020 when NMC suddenly unravelled following a report by Muddy Waters, a US short-seller, that raised accounting and governance issues. NMC, founded by Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, an Indian tycoon, was based in
