Ford loses court bid to stop Lifemark asset sale

Keydata founder Stewart Ford has had his bid to stop the sale of some of Lifemark's assets rejected in a preliminary order by a Luxembourg court, but has said he plans to appeal the ruling.

The case relates to a portfolio of 28 secondhand US life polices bought by Lifemark in 2009 with a $17.2m loan from Billericay Trading Ltd, a company owned by Ford's family.

Ford (pictured) denied he wanted to derail a rescue of the troubled Lifemark fund by preventing the necessary sale of some polices to improve its liquidity.

He said is concerned policies are being firesold under market value to SEB bank, a senior creditor of Lifemark, or its friends, and then re-sold by the bank on the open market for a profit.

"I am concerned there is some fire-selling happening to SEB or its friends at not the best prices," he said.

"I am looking into the conduct of SEB and the Lifemark administrator KPMG. Bondholders should know how the policies have been sold."

Ford had brought a case to stop Lifemark administrator Eric Collard of KPMG from selling any of the remaining 24 polices in the Billericay portfolio. Instead Ford wanted the court to force Collard to continue paying the premiums on the polices.

However on 25 July in a preliminary hearing the Luxembourg-City district court ordered the Keydata founder's bid to be rejected on all legal grounds, and for Billericay to pay €700 costs to Lifemark.

Ford said it is "highly likely" Billericay will appeal the ruling. If an appeal is lodged further policy sales are likely to be halted until a decision is reached.

Lifemark is suffering severe liquidity problems as the original life cover holders live longer than expected and policies fail to mature when predicted, leaving the fund short of cash to pay premiums on the remaining policies.

As a result, Collard has said it may be necessary to sell some policies to generate ready cash for the fund which needs about $4m a month to cover its costs.

Some policies have already been sold to pay premiums. If policies lapse due to non-payment of premiums the Lifemark fund receives nothing.

A second summons was lodged by Ford aimed at forcing Lifemark to repay the principal $17.2m loan from Billericay, and late payment interest since 10 February. The hearing on this case will take place on 4 October.