From Horses Mouth
I have not responded for nearly two years as to the specualtion and rumours that have been written about my family and I
Its time to put the record straight.
I made a big mistake employing Peter Owen as CEO of XL and stood back whilst still the largest SH (part time dep Chairman) serving 1 years notice and basically let him and his army of consultants and so called experts destroy a business I had built since 1999 along with great people such as Steve Tomlinson and Eamonn Mullany and a superb Management Team and staff who were commited and deicated to delivering a safe a secure operation and product second to none
Some people on this forum are bitter as they have been misled as they do not have the facts -
I am NO Criminal as has been stated on this forum.
Peter Owen personally owes me well in excess of 1M UKL and I have taken the legal steps to collect this loan that was afforded to him prior to joining XL as a short term loan.
Whilst he was employed XL he subsequently went bankrupt for monies owed to some other third party that was anuled.
Becauxe Owen could no longer continue as a Director, I was left with no option but to return as CEO and pick up the mess which he and his team had created.
I was mislead and informed as were the board that Peter Owen and he his many consultants were near to finalising the refinacing of XL Sadly the whole thing was a staged by PO to generate huge consultancy fees from XL.
So when John Smith speaks of criminals he should do his homework
Onto current matters
I am a SH in BPI and do own 40 p/c of Viking AB - Christian Tadjeran owns the balance
BPI have NO shareholding in Kiss and Kiss was a customer as was Goldtrail
to Viking and ALL transaction were on a arms length basis
If Viking did not exist the UK Market would be dominated by TCX/TUI
more than it is currently and the consumer would be penalised with high prices
The Viking Management Team led by Halldor Siguardson and Phil Lintott
Clarke are doing a good job reshaping Vikings business after these collapses to ensure it contiues to meet supply with demand - This regretably has meant cabin crew have had to be laid off as the 3 SWG units will return to SWG 29.8
My day to day involvement is minimal and only in capacity as consultant/investor - we have a great team of dedicated professionals in Viking as we did at XL and you will see the business become much stronger and focused under Halldor and Phil Lintott Clarke over the next 2 months
Viking need to downsize its UK fleet but this is at the expense of wet leased summer capacity and NOT core business or flight deck crew
Sunwing have been very supportive and I give them my personal thanks.
They are a great bunch of people and have shown Viking the suppot XL showed them when they established themselves...Thanks to ALL at Sunwing.
Vikings order books are good for Winter and Summer and I personally believe my investment through BPI will deliver great rewards. Viking has a
robust business in Iraq and from resort based locations for blue chip
clients.
I will make this one last point and that is I believe this site has great value but is being mis used by some for personal vendetta and smear and as professionals some of you that hide behind quite obvious alias believe you
are above the law.
Phil Wyatt