The Guernsey-domiciled Vinum Fine Wine Fund has been suspended after it emerged fees and wine valuations had been incorrectly calculated over the past two years.
Part of the problem arose when in 2008 fees were changed from being amortised over three years to five and this was not picked up by the administrator, PSG Active Fund Services.
In addition, PSG has been advised by the Specialist Wine Adviser the values it received on two of the wines on the Bordeaux First Growth Plus Cell had been misstated by the Independent Wine Valuer since April 2009.
The combination of these two issues has led Vinum Fund Managers – together with custodian, Butterfields, to recommend to the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) the fund be suspended until the valuation and pricing issues are fully resolved.
Vinum Fund Managers said it hopes to lift the suspension and re-list by the end of February, subject to the GFSC’s full satisfaction of the completed remedial works together with an administrator’s system implementation report by Butterfield.
In a statement to investors Vinum said it realised the errors ‘may have a significant effect on the potential marketability of the fund’ but said its founders remained fully invested in the fund.
