Administrators have been ordered by a court to sell a stalled site in Liverpool city centre to a consortium of investors.
Elliot Group scheme Infinity Waters collapsed into administration in April 2020 along with the Aura and Residence schemes.
The Elliot Group placed the schemes into administration several months after the arrest of their owner Elliot Lawless.
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Mr Lawless, from Liverpool, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, bribery and corruption. He has denied any wrongdoing.
David Rubin and Partners (DRP) were appointed as administrators last year. DRP has since merged with Begbies Traynor.
The High Court has now ruled that Begbies Traynor must sell the site to Infinity Development Propco Ltd (IDPL), a company which represents investors in the scheme.
Liverpool based property company Legacie had put in a bid to buy the site.
A spokesperson for IDPL now said that they intended to work to remove a charge on the site held by the Equity Group Limited, a Seychelles based company controlled by Mr Lawless.
He has previously told the ECHO that Equity Group acquired the site because it was the contracting party to which the council had delegated authority to sell. He also said he had registered the group in the UK for tax purposes.
A charge is a kind of legal mortgage.
A spokesperson for IDPL said to the ECHO : "On February 21 2022 our legal team were successful at a hearing in the High Court, before his Honour Judge Mark Cawson QC, in obtaining an order for the Infinity Developments site to be sold to Infinity Development Propco Ltd ( IDPL) rather than Legacie.
"After hearing our barrister’s representations, the Judge made an order in our favour.
"In summary the order allowed for the Infinity Development Site to be sold to IDPL free from the legal charge granted to and held by the second respondent in those proceedings, Virtuoso Investments Limited.
"The site is to be sold with the following in place: (1) the legal charge granted to and held by Equity Group Limited (‘the EGL Charge’), (2) the lease granted to Infinity Developments Holdings Limited, (‘the Holdings Lease’). Crucially, however, the terms of the sale also transfer the rights to challenge the EGL Charge and the Holdings Lease to IDPL.
"The Judge held that selling the site to IDPL on the terms of its bid represented a better outcome and therefore better return to creditors.
"In addition to the above, the Judge also ordered that the three investor/purchasers who effectively represented the interests of the wider group would be entitled to recover most of their costs incurred in relation to the proceedings.
"This is an extremely successful outcome, and our focus will now move to completing the purchase and taking swift and aggressive action through the courts to challenge the EGL charge and the Holdings Lease."
Elliot Lawless said: “This is the third Elliot project to have been acquired by an investor consortium and it demonstrates once again that my projects benefited from prime locations and that their viability was and remains extremely strong.”
A spokesman for Legacie said: "Legacie Developments wants the city to thrive so we wish the successful party the very best in taking this project forward. In the meantime, our focus will be on the continued delivery of several significant developments in Liverpool and across the UK."
Mr Lawless unveiled the plans for Infinity Waters in 2016, which featured a three-tower housing complex off Leeds Street.
Speaking to the ECHO in 2019 Mr Lawless said that he began buying sites on the city's waterfront after launching a building services company in 2010.
He said that he was committed to regenerating the city and supporting jobs in the region.
A spokesman for the administrators said: "Paul Cooper and David Rubin were appointed as Joint Administrators of Infinity Developments Liverpool Limited in March 2020. The company owned the development site at Infinity Waters, located in a prominent position in Liverpool.
"The Joint Administrators are pleased to announce that they have entered into a court approved arrangement to sell the site to the investor consortium representing the majority of the original investors into the project.
"This outcome will now pave the way for this well situated development to realise its full potential to completion creating best in class apartments in Liverpool."
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