Ian Beckett Profile picture
Scientist, Accountant, Financier - brought text messaging to the world at SEMA, text M-commerce/banking at MILLICOM & opened up CEE/FSU at CET

Jan 15, 2023, 15 tweets

@retheauditors @premnsikka 1/ “Flipping Hell”: #LSE listed taxpayer funded homeless/vulnerable accommodation op & #BDO audited ‘#HomeReit built on poor foundations’. CityAM, three days ago wrote: ‘#HomeREIT faces legal threat from biggest tenant over £5.5m rent relief deal’ …

2/ (cityam.com/home-reit-face…). A week earlier it was reported that #HomeReit’s ‘investment adviser’ (‘Alvarium’) had (prior to its #SPAC merger) spun out the unit ‘advising’ #HomeReit (‘Alvarium Home REIT Advisors Ltd’) allegedly to a newly created shell, …

3/ before, along with wealth manager #TiedemannGroup, a #SPAC merger (Nasdaq listing) with ‘#CartesianGrowthCorporation (ex-#AIG emerging markets PE funds crew from back in the day). The #HomeReit board allegedly in effect ‘subcontracted the business’ operation to Alvarium’,

4/ who the Times reported ‘sourced properties from vendors. But is yet to explain why buying 34 in Stoke, say, involved them being flipped three times in a day via two SPVs, with a portfolio the vendor collated for £3.2m sold to #HomeReit for £7.3m.’ (“Flipping Hell”).

5/ #HomeReit/‘Alvarium’ are also reportedly opaque on the thorny issues of ‘newly fully refurbished’ & ‘vendors "typically provide" tenants with "additional funding, usually representing 12 months of rent"’ - or as the Times put it - ‘where has the money gone ?’.

6/ #HomeReit responding (with a poopoo) to short-seller attacks, reportedly stated that it’s rent (lease) receivables were fully paid up (to 08/2022), however, 2 of its large charity partners (#NobleTree & #BigHelp) were reportedly refusing to pay their rent (lease) before then.

7/ #NobleTree is reportedly withholding more than £860k in rent from #HomeReit after claiming it has failed to receive promised funds to refurbish its properties despite assurances from ‘Alvarium’. HomeReit’s auditor pre & post it’s 10/2020 IPO was #BDO, ‘Alvarium’ was …

8/ sole broker, placing agent & intermediaries offer adviser. #Audit fees, however, weren’t #BDO’s only taste of the ‘#HomeReit’ honey. HomeReit’s inaugural 2020/1 accounts contained £326k of BDO audit fees & £240k of BDO non-audit fees. ‘Alvarium’ were pleased with BDO’s …

9/ corporate finance team - what HomeReit’s board thought is unknown. BDO & Mazars were criticised in 2022 by the UK audit regulator #FRC for ‘unacceptable’ audits (the worst auditors inspected for the 2nd year running). Meanwhile over in the US ‘BDO USA botched more than …

10/ half of its audits inspected by the US #audit regulator #PCAOB in 2021’. #BDO has been challenged on its independence after revelations that #HomeReit’s CFO James Snape was allegedly, until 03/2022, a senior audit manager at #BDO charged with checking HomeReit's books.

11/ Although where #HomeReit’s (in effect) IPO CFO (#Alvarium’s Gareth Jones) ended & HomeReit’s alleged recent maiden CFO James Snape started is unknown as HomeReit was allegedly a board of 4 non-exec directors that had delegated day-to-day running of the Company to ‘Alvarium’.

12/ Background: ‘#HomeReit delays results after allegations from short-seller #Viceroy’ - (); ‘#HomeReit responds to short seller #Viceroy’s allegations with a poopoo’ - (); ‘the uncomfortable two-way trade in making money from …

13/ homelessness’ - (); ‘#HomeReit - who dat?’ - (); ‘short-seller #BoatmanCapital calls out #HomeReit on its property valuations’ - ( AND cityam.com/home-reit-sign…); …

14/ ‘Law firm mounts challenge against #HomeReit’ - (); ‘#HomeReit delays results, ‘we’ve no idea where our rent comes from’’ - (); ‘#HomeREIT’s investment adviser (#Alvarium) distanced itself from #HomeReit ahead of it’s SPAC …

15/15 merger/listing’ - (); ‘#BDO in the spotlight over #HomeReit’ - ().

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