The former owner of parcel delivery group Yodel owed more than £1.1bn when it collapsed into administration, according to a new document.
Logistics Group, which was also behind ArrowXL, entered administration in March, with Teneo, were appointed by main lender HSBC.
A month earlier the group had sold Yodel to competitor Shift in a bid to avoid the brand itself collapsing.
Logistics Group is owned by the billionaire Barclay family, who also own The Very Group.
A full report is yet to be filed with Companies House by Teneo on how Logistics Group came to enter administration and what, if any, financial outcome will be for its creditors.
However, a statement of affairs document has revealed that the group had an estimated total deficiency to its creditors of £1.114bn when it entered administration.
However, in a highly unusual move, a handwritten note in the document from a director of Logistics Group has cast doubt on the figure.
Philip Peters, a banker who has been a director of the company since 2012, said that the formula used by Teneo was “unfamiliar” to him and that he is “unable to verify” it.
A more detailed breakdown of how much the group owed to its creditors when it entered administration is expected to be filed with Companies House in the coming weeks.
New owner for Yodel
In February, a consortium led by the fast-growing Shift, dubbed the ‘Uber for removals’, and investment bank Solano Partners took control of the brand by acquiring new company YDLGP Limited for an undisclosed sum.
Solano Partners was founded by Jon Edirmanasinghe in January 2022, having previously been a partner at Cavendish Corporate Finance and also worked at EY and Deloitte.
Shift was founded in 2017 by chief executive Jacob Corlett when he was 23. After leaving school at 16, Mr Corlett attended the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy, which was set up by the Dragons’ Den star.
In April 2023 the company said it was on track to become a £100m turnover business with more than 300 employees after buying Berlin-based home move tech company Movinga.
However, no official financial figures have ever been made public to confirm Shift’s turnover claim.