CMV creditors out of pocket to the tune of £96 million

Cruise & Maritime Voyages went into administration in July 2020 due to the pandemic and has now been dissolved, with creditors owed almost £96.4 million.

In its final report to Companies House, administrator Kroll Advisory said there were insufficient funds to pay secured, preferential or non-preferential creditors.

An unnamed secured creditor which refinanced CMV in February 2020 has a claim for £78.3 million, but administrators say there will not be sufficient funds to cover this. Unsecured creditors are owed around £18 million but will also not receive pay outs.

Preferential creditors are mainly 131 employees which lost out on holiday pay totalling £84,000. The report said all had otherwise been paid “the majority” of their salary arrears.

The administrators also revealed details of the sale of assets to Christian Verhounig, CMV’s former chief executive and chairman, who set up a new company, CVI Group, only a month after the collapse.

He paid just £180,000 for computer systems, vehicles and office equipment, including a nominal £1 each for databases and CMV’s intellectual property.

CVI Group planned to launch a similar product to CMV, with ex-UK departures, but Verhounig now runs Ambassador Cruise Line, having given up control of CVI to Njord Partners, Ambassador’s owners, according to documents filed at Companies House.