Godwin Investors Face 2-Year Wait To Find Out How Much They've Lost
More than 2,000 small investors who gave Godwin Capital UK property companies a total £162M before they went into administration last summer have a long wait ahead, Bisnow can reveal.
In a report to creditors circulated on Wednesday, MHA said it will take more than two years to find out how much money can be recovered.
The complexity of Godwin’s corporate structure and the amount of data administrators need to comb through to work out what assets they can use to raise money for investors will make the process an extremely lengthy one.
“The timing and quantum of any recoveries remain uncertain, and our work is likely to extend beyond two years, with certain projected recoveries anticipated into 2026 and 2027,” MHA partner Steven Illes wrote in the report.
The report reiterated that, thus far, the team has identified only £4M to £5M of assets that can be used to repay investors, meaning they face losing 98% to 99% of their money.
MHA partners outlined in previous reports how investor money was not used in the way specified in marketing materials. New funds were used to repay previous investors, and money was not secured over assets as promised. Instead, funds were loaned to Godwin subsidiaries as unsecured debt.
That meant that when several of the companies in the group collapsed, administrators could not take possession of assets and sell them on behalf of creditors.
An in-depth investigation undertaken by Bisnow revealed in December that Godwin was still accepting new money from investors even as it was preparing to tell its existing backers it was struggling and would need to defer interest and capital repayments.
The investigation also revealed that advisers tasked with selling investment in Godwin were paid commissions above the market average and top sales people were rewarded with perks including holidays driving supercars around Tuscany.
Nottingham-based Godwin began raising money from retail investors in 2019, selling loan notes it said would be secured against the company’s pipeline of development projects.
It went into administration in June after telling investors in autumn 2024 that it was facing problems because the downturn in the market meant it had not been able secure planning permissions and sell projects. It specialised in schemes such as roadside retail, discount supermarkets and small single-family housing developments.
The new report said MHA has now obtained electronic copies of Godwin’s books and records, which includes 3.5 terabytes of email data and a further 730GB of electronic records.
“The scale and complexity of the group structure and inter company balances mean that the finalisation of our investigations is likely to take many months,” Illes said in the report.
“Our investigations remain ongoing and confidential, and we do not propose to provide further details at this stage, so as not to prejudice the outcome of any potential claims or actions that may be pursued."
