The loss-making property businesses that scandal-hit Quindell sold for £1 have been quietly re-acquired by Rob Terry, the insurance outsourcer’s controversial founder.
Indro Mukerjee, Mr Terry’s successor at the helm of Quindell, offloaded the company’s insulation and property maintenance businesses to the Be Smart Group in January, crystallising a £4.2m loss on the deal.
It has now emerged that following the sale, Quob Park Estate (QPE), the investment vehicle set up by Mr Terry after he was ousted, took ownership of Be Smart earlier this year.
The deal signals the latest attempt by Mr Terry to rebuild his business interests in the shadow of a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into Quindell’s accounts under his leadership.
According to filings with Companies House, Mr Terry and his wife were appointed directors of Be Smart on Sept 6. When asked by The Telegraph how much he paid for the assets that Watchstone sold to Be Smart for a nominal sum, he said: “All I can say is it’s in the millions.”
Be Smart was owned by Ben Williams, who had been a director of the two businesses before Quindell sold them.
Mr Terry expanded Quindell through an acquisition spree that turned it from a golf club into a sprawling insurance outsourcer and law firm, with, at its height, a stock market value of £2.7bn.
A scandal erupted after he was ousted in 2014 following opaque share dealings. The controversy deepened last year when Quindell’s new management shocked investors by drastically revising the results it reported under Mr Terry, which showed the business had been loss-making when it had previously said it was profitable.
The SFO launched a probe into Quindell – since renamed Watchstone – within hours of the restatements.
Mr Williams did not return a request for comment.