35-year insolvency case comes to a close

An insolvency case that has been running for 35 years has finally ended, with liquidators UHY Hacker Young paying out the final dividend to creditors last month.

The company involved, a travel agency called Apal, went bankrupt in 1974 following the collapse of Israel-British Bank, of which it was a major depositor.

UHY Hacker Young was appointed liquidator, and paid the last of seven dividends to over 500 creditors in August. Creditors were paid 74p for every £1 lost.

The firm said the dividends - the first of which was paid in the 1970s – could only be paid when PricewaterhouseCoopers completed the process of recovering Israel-British Bank’s assets.

Hundreds of British holidaymakers were left out of pocket when the travel company collapsed.

Ladislav Hornan is the sole surviving liquidator of Apal and in the 35-year case has gone from administrator to managing partner of the firm. The case has involved 20 other members of staff and generated over 300 lever arch files of documents.

‘This insolvency shows that when a bank fails with significant assets overseas and there are irregularities the process of getting the creditors’ money back can be complex and lengthy,’ Hornan said.

‘When you think of the greater complexity of the modern banking system, creditors could be much worse off if a similar situation happened today. Thirty-five years is a long time to wait for your money,’ he added.