The UK unit of commodities and listed derivatives broker MF Global is the first company to enter the ‘special administration regime’, established in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse to seek to return client assets faster than under an ordinary corporate administration.
New York-based MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday a week after its share price sank by nearly a half. The firm had reported a second-quarter loss after ratings agency Moody’s downgraded its long-term debt. Moody’s was concerned about the firm’s risk management in light of its large exposure to European sovereign debt.
The Financial Services Authority said the joint special administrators, Richard Fleming, Richard Heis and Mike Pink of KPMG, have three objectives: “To ensure the return of client assets as soon as practicable, to ensure timely engagement with market infrastructure bodies and the authorities, and either to rescue the firm as a going concern or wind it up in the best interests of the creditors.”
Under an ordinary administration only the third objective would apply.
The chairman and chief executive officer of MF Global is Jon Corzine, former chairman and senior partner at Goldman Sachs.
©2011 funds europe
