Pangea Europe Limited ("Pangea"), founded in 1999 as a Bermuda-registered company, is the ultimate holding company for a Group of 11 subsidiaries across Europe and the USA (together "the Group"). The Group has operations in ten countries, providing digital connectivity through its fibre optic network stretching across the UK, Northern Europe and Scandinavia to the Baltic, as well as links to New York. It provides customers with bandwidth for voice and data traffic.
This start-up Group has consolidated gross assets of c$413m and expects sales of c$15m for the 2001 financial year.
The high-capacity Pangea cable network can be divided into four segments -- namely the North Sea, Danish, Swedish and Baltic rings -- largely custom built and fully-integrated. The 7,200 kilometers network connects London, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Malmo, Gothenburg, Helsinki and Talinn in addition to a transatlantic link to New York.
The Group's headquarters are currently located in New York with approximately 90 people, including contractors located in the UK and across Europe. It operates a Network Operating Center in Amsterdam. The center provides 24/7/365 full maintenance and technical customer support and network monitoring and is staffed by dedicated technical personnel.
Ipe Jacob of Grant Thornton commented, "Recent changes in the telecoms and capital markets have impacted the Group's business plan and a formal insolvency process is required at holding company level to enable a moratorium during which forward options can be explored. Grant Thornton intends to trade the business while seeking to achieve a restructuring or sale on a going concern basis. In the meantime the network remains fully operational -- customers should see no change in service currently."
"We believe that a reorganization or sale will be completed within the next four weeks," continued Jacob.
Malcolm Shierson, Mike Jervis and Ipe Jacob, partners at Grant Thornton, have been appointed Joint Administrative Receivers to Pangea Europe Limited and Pangea Networks (UK) Limited.