Page 166 - Articles Written by JGJ EF DPS

Unwin 2007- 2013

Wrekin Group and Wrekin Construction were acquired by the Tamar

Group owned by David Unwin. New board members introduced to
Wrekin:

David Unwin (Sr.) (chairman)

David G Unwin (director) and

John Woodcock (joint managing director)

In March 2009 Wrekin Construction went into administration, with nearly
500 jobs losses. It blamed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for its
predicament because the bank would not extend credit to cover its cash-
flow problems. RBS retorted that Wrekin was unsustainable due to
"creditor pressure". It owed more than £20m to about 1,000 creditors, as
well as another £20m to its pension fund. But Wrekin claimed that it had

£40m worth of orders up to the beginning of March 2009 to re-vamp
Huddersfield’s Town Centre. That it had an overdraft of £4.25m and was
overdrawn by only £2.8m. The company said that:

"All Wrekin Construction needed to keep going in a very
competitive market was £2m to £3m". (3)

Building workers' union Ucatt said a healthy company was failing
because banks would not lend.

"There is a particular problem with the banks bailed out by
government cash not passing it on to construction
companies. This must be the last example of this problem,"

said Alan Ritchie, general secretary of Ucatt (3).

Wrekin claimed it had signed two contracts worth a total of £50 million
on the day it had been taken into administration.

The administrators, Ernst and Young, acting on behalf of The Royal
Bank of Scotland found, when examining the assets of Wrekin

Construction, that the company's owner, David Unwin, had entered an
uncut ruby gemstone weighing 2 kg (4.5lb) valued at £11m, and known