Empire Property Concepts offers three unregulated loan notes:
- A 2 year fixed rate secured loan note which will accrue 10% compound interest in the first year and 12% compound interest in the second year. Interest is compounded annually and payable at the end of the term with a 4% bonus (equating to 4% of the capital invested) together with the capital invested.
- A 2 year fixed rate secured loan note which will accrue 10% simple interest in the first year and 12% simple interest in the second year. Interest is payable every 6 months in arrears.
- A 4 year fixed rate secured loan note which will accrue 15% simple interest in the first year, 15% simple interest in the second year, 15% simple interest in the third year and 15% simple interest in the fourth year. Interest is payable at the end of the term together with the capital invested. (So in other words 60% interest paid after four years, which is equivalent to 12.5% per annum on a Compound Annual Growth Rate basis.
The investment opportunity is not openly promoted on EPC’s website, but I was able to easily obtain details of the opportunity from an unregulated introducer after self-certifying as a sophisticated investor (without being asked to provide any evidence).
Status
Open to new investment.
Who are Empire Property Concepts?
Paul Rothwell is the founder and director of the business. The other director is Jeffrey Taylor. Companies House shows that there is a single voting “A” share in Empire Property Concepts which is owned by Paul Rothwell – which means that Paul Rothwell has full control over the company.
Empire Property Concepts was incorporated in 2009, but the business seems to have taken off in 2015 when current assets leapt from £175k to just over £1 million (according to the December 2015 and December 2014 accounts).
Tangible assets according to the December 2016 accounts are just over £11k, so Paul Rothwell’s £33m property empire (The Telegraph) is presumably held in his own name or in the name of special purpose vehicles – other companies owned by him and associates.
How secure is the investment?
These investments are unregulated corporate loans and if Empire Property Concepts defaults you risk losing 100% of your money.
Investors’ money is secured against the underlying property by a First Legal Charge. However, before placing any reliance on this security, it is essential that investors undertake professional due diligence to ensure that in the event of a default, that their charge against the security is propertly recorded, and that the asset can be sold to raise sufficient money to compensate investors, as any other corporate lender would.
This is particularly important given that the company offering the loan (Empire Property Concepts) does not appear to own the underlying investment properties.
Should I invest with Empire Property Concepts?
As with any unregulated corporate bond, this investment is only suitable for sophisticated and/or high net worth investors who have a substantial existing portfolio and are prepared to risk 100% loss of their money.
Any investment offering 12.5% per annum yields should be considered high risk (i.e. higher risk than a diversified portfolio of stockmarket funds).
This particular bond is described as asset-backed. Before putting any reliance on the security backing the bond, investors should undertake professional due diligence to ensure that a) the security exists b) in the event of default, the security could be easily sold and would raise enough money to cover all investors’ money c) the charge over the security has been properly and legally recorded.
Before investing investors should ask themselves:
- How would I feel if the investment defaulted and I lost 100% of my money?
- Do I have a sufficiently large portfolio that the loss of 100% of my investment would not damage me financially?
- Have I conducted due diligence to ensure the asset-backed security can be relied on?
If you are looking for “security”, you should not invest in unregulated products with a risk of 100% capital loss.
Brev – was this perhaps the only genuine mini-bond that wasn’t a Ponzi? From what I saw it all worked out, their margins were tight but they paid off all their 15%ers and the business was a legitimate and profitable property venture?
Weird because they had the highest yearly yields – how come they managed whereas others didn’t?
Any thoughts?
My information is that Empire were still soliciting new investment in October 2018 at the earliest, and their Dec 2018 accounts state they have some creditors not repayable for over 5 years.
Where did you hear your information?
I heard approx 1 year ago – mid 2018 that Hunter Jones (the mini- bond unregulated introducer) had stopped selling the Empire bonds completely – yes I wrote it slightly incorrectly, they will still have a lot of creditors with a few years left – but when HJ stopped selling the bond and also I heard on the grapevine that Empire was getting finance straight from the banks (a lot cheaper) I shook my head in disbelief that perhaps it was a legitimate venture.
I know they paid introducers 14%, and then had to achieve 15% for their creditors – they must’ve had a hyper-profitable business for that all to be paid and for the firm to STILL make money.
Having visited their operation in the past (as a potential client myself) – they were cosmetically enhancing and renting out the most awful of brutalist architecture in sad little places like Doncaster , with a high proportion of their tenants on housing benefit.
If they are still soliciting investment now then I hold up my hands and stand corrected.
they simply stand out for not having gone bust if they are still going.
Cheers
Rod
I INVESTED £5000 ON A EMPIRE PROPERTY BOND THROUGH A COMPANY CALLED JUTLAND EQUITY MANAGMENT NOW WITH A ADDRESS IN LONDON .DONT HAVE A WEB SITE OR TEL MUMBER .CAN ANYONE HELP ME WITH ANY DETAILS KIND REGARDS COLIN
I had invested with them in early January 2019 for a 4 years term. They liquidated the investment in May 2019 returning capital and interest pro-rata at 15% (in my case, 5 months) to all investors. They had a problem so they gave capital and half return in May, the other half of the return in October. I do not know why someone has been left out. I think the minimum investment was 20000 GBP
This was a great company to invest in. I invested a total of £120,000 and got paid on the anniversary as promised. The final loan note got cancelled as they didn’t need the funding and completed without private financing so paid us all back earlier than anticipated. I’ve just invested the same amount with HJ Collection/Empire and they send me monthly accounting figures and a newsletter update on construction etc. Not sure what else you can ask for to be honest.
Just invested with HJ/Empire again after doing so back in 2018. Everything was going great until they didn’t need anymore funding – that just meant that they paid me back my original investment plus a pro rata interest payment. Happy days. It’s great to know that they are actually one of the few who actually have a viable business plan and numbers team. £100k in 2018 and £100k again 2021. If I had more, I’d invest more to be honest.
We recently invested with/Empire again after doing so back in 2019. Everything was going great until they didn’t want anymore funding – They paid us back my original investment plus interest .
A great result . It’s fantastic to know that they are one of the few who actually have a viable business plan and numbers team.
£330k in 2018 and £330k again 2021.
We would like to invest more in due course.
Would anyonewho is informed care to comment on how solid or liquid the company is as an investment in their properties/projects?