Settlement offer over Aerobathon

Van den Bergh Foods has offered to waive its claim to 310,000, which was lost when a charity event it sponsored collapsed with debts of 1.4m.

But it will do this only if other creditors, who held the company partly responsible for the collapse of the Flora Aerobathon, agree not to pursue the food giant for compensation.

The offer has been made through liquidator Stoy Hayward, which was appointed when Aerobathon Ltd went into liquidation in May last year. Several creditors claimed Van den Bergh should share some responsibility but the food giant was the title sponsor and had no financial involvement in the organisation of the event.

With Aerobathon’s debts at 1.4m and assets at 313,000, even if Van den Bergh waives its entitlement there will still be a shortfall of 800,000 in creditor demands. “These negotiations are going on,” says one source, “Van den Bergh is trying to ensure that none of the creditors try to take further action.”

The event was expected to attract 140,000 people and raise more than 3m for six charities in April 1994. In the end it attracted just 17,000 despite an injection of 1.2m marketing spend by Flora.

No-one at Van den Bergh was available for comment.