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Shareholders not told UK club was closing
Investors in the Hollywood Road nightclub M1NT are jittery after discovering the London arm of the venture closed  this month - with shareholders and members left in the dark about the reasons.
A number of London shareholders said they  had yet to receive any word about the club or whether they would retrieve any return on their investment - despite the doors of M1NT London closing on April 3.
A shareholder with a HK$100,000 investment in the Hong Kong club and a further HK$300,000 in Shanghai - where  Alistair Paton  plans to launch a lavish new club  in September - said Hong Kong investors should have been the first to know about the closure to allay concerns.
'It makes you wonder how well we know Alistair because there is a lot of trust involved,' he said.
M1NT London opened in a blaze of publicity in 2005, claiming a long list of celebrities as members. The original venue closed after a dispute between  Mr Paton,  the young Australian founder, and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey.  Hong Kong's M1NT opened in November 2006, with rumours of a prominent celebrity shareholding and membership.
Mr Paton has claimed the closure of the London  club was due to his landlord going into liquidation and the firm's decision to focus on Asia.
One London shareholder said: 'To say we are upset would be an understatement.'
The owner of the freehold property title  for the premises  at 57 Jermyn Street,  London - the Crown Estate  - confirmed that Scarporex,  the company that allegedly sub-leased the property to M1NT illegally, had gone into liquidation. The Crown Estate informed M1NT that it would  allow the club to remain in the premises until  this month.
Speaking from Shanghai, Mr Paton claimed he had not had time to contact his London shareholders and members because he was given only 14 days to vacate the premises.
He said it had not been necessary to inform shareholders that he had agreed with the Crown Estate in January to leave the premises,  as the club had intended to move to a new venue. 'We were given 14 days' notice from Crown Estate and our priority was looking after our staff,' he said.   'They wanted to relocate to Hong Kong or Shanghai.'
Mr Paton said they had considered another  London site but there was nothing suitable, and the board  decided to close the operation  and focus on Asia.  The London club had 'substantial' assets to which shareholders would be entitled as part of the liquidation, he said.
But some shareholders in Hong Kong have expressed concern at the revelation.    Shareholders - some of whom had already invested in the new Shanghai venture - only became aware the London club had closed when  the Sunday Morning Post contacted them last week.
In an e-mail, one said: 'To be really honest, I have given up on this and no longer remember that we've invested  ... I'm pretty sure a lot of investors feel the same way.'
Another who contacted Mr Paton to find out what was going on with the London operation was told MINT was 'refocusing on Asia'.
There are about 300 investors in the Hong Kong operation. They  paid between HK$50,000 and HK$500,000 for their shares.
One shareholder expressed concern that profits from the Hong Kong operation could be used to fund the Shanghai venture, but Mr Paton insisted  that club was being funded by a separate sale of US$3.5 million in shares.
Shareholder Paul Robinson,   the former president of EMI South East Asia,  said  he would  take a greater role in running M1NT's operations.



M1NT's HK investors fret after London axe