Wrekin boss: 'I lost almost everything'
Businessman David Unwin claims he "lost almost everything" after taking on the Wrekin Group in 2007, only to see the company go into administration in March this year with the loss of more than 500 jobs. Businessman David Unwin claims he "lost almost everything" after taking on the Wrekin Group in 2007, only to see the company go into administration in March this year with the loss of more than 500 jobs. Mr Unwin issued a statement to a BBC programme last night in which he insisted that he had "gambled all his business interests" into the failed venture in order to save the Shifnal firm from collapse. When Wrekin Construction was put up for sale, it was businessman David Unwin who turned up with the cash - or at least a ruby sparkler believed to be worth £11 million. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
Mr Unwin issued a statement to a BBC programme last night in which he insisted that he had "gambled all his business interests" into the failed venture in order to save the Shifnal firm from collapse.
When Wrekin Construction was put up for sale, it was businessman David Unwin who turned up with the cash - or at least a ruby sparkler believed to be worth £11 million.
It was formally announ-ced in June 2007 that the London and Middle Eastern Group, owned by Mr Unwin, was taking over the firm.
Mr Unwin bought Wrekin through another of his companies, Derbyshire-based Tamar Group. And it was Tamar that owned the ruby, known as the Gem of Tanzania, which was sold to Wre-kin in exchange for £11m of newly-issued preference shares in the Shifnal-based company in December 2007.
His Tamar Group owned a whole string of operating companies including Tamar Land and Property, London & Middle Eastern, Stanton Recycled Aggregates, HCL Equipment, Equatrak (UK) and Midland Land Recovery.
They are understood to be several of around 30 businesses of which Mr Unwin was a director, many of which have now gone to the wall, leaving creditors owed upwards of £40 million.
More than 500 people lost their jobs at Wrekin, including 47-year-old Levi Genner, from Telford, who told the BBC that workers were still struggling to find new jobs.
Debt recovery manager Darren Davoile, who first took Wrekin to court on behalf of around 20 creditors owed around £1.3 million, described the number of cre-ditors as "extraordinary".
But Mr Unwin, who lives in a £500,000 home in Uttoxeter, told the Inside Out programme: "I have, by gambling all my business interests in making Wrekin a successful business, lost almost everything. If that makes me an unsuccessful businessman, then it depends on your attitude to risk. I have had spectacular successes and some fairly spectacular failures."
Mr Unwin's Tamar Group has also gone into administration as Wrekin administrators chase millions owed to more than 1,000 creditors of the construction firm.
By Business Editor Amy Bould
