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The demise of one of the biggest brands in Guernsey was confirmed when Hurel Limited - formerly R.G. Falla Limited - went into voluntary liquidation earlier this month. Here, Express has tried to clarify the timeline of events that led to its financial collapse.
For many people, the first hint of trouble at R.G. Falla Ltd came via the States of Guernsey.
In December 2022, the States dropped the building firm as the main contractor for its multi-million pound sixth form centre project.
That was part of the wider redevelopment of Les Ozouets Campus, which is still intended to one day house a sixth form centre and further education facilities currently provided by the Guernsey Institute across several other locations.
Pictured: The above news came as a shock to many people in December.
At the time the States said that following a restructuring of the Garenne Group, the firm had “sought to unilaterally alter material contract terms agreed in the tender process to such an extent that it now represents an untenable level of risk for such a significant taxpayer-funded project to continue”.
Education, Sport and Culture said that R.G. Falla Ltd had tried "unilaterally to alter material contract terms agreed in the tender process". In response, R.G. Falla said that it was disappointed with the States decision.
"We are saddened that the States of Guernsey has chosen to end negotiations with R.G. Falla with regard to the construction of Les Ozouets Campus," said the firm in December.
"R.G. Falla has always remained committed to carrying out the project, however both the terms of the intended contract and overall programme were onerous and not commercially viable. We sought to undertake alterations to the proposed contract that would have enabled R.G. Falla to successfully undertake the project, without undue risk to the company, its employees and other clients.
"R.G. Falla has committed substantial resources and costs to this over the past 6 months and it is very disappointing that the States of Guernsey has decided not to proceed."
Pictured: Hurel Ltd is listed as being registered in Guernsey in 1956.
Prior to the States dropping R.G. Falla Ltd as the contractor for building the Sixth Form Centre it was seen as the preeminent building firm in Guernsey.
R.G. Falla Ltd had been established in 1956 - but there is no longer any record of it on the Guernsey Registry website. Instead, Hurel Ltd - which is the new name of the former R.G. Falla Ltd - is listed as having been first registered in 1956.
R.G. Falla Ltd was founded by the man of the same name, who was the father of Stuart Falla - who went on to run the company for 41 years. He was also Chairman of the Garenne Group until he retired from both positions. Mr Falla has also been involved with numerous community initiatives in Guernsey and is currently Chairman of the States Development Agency which is overseeing plans to rejuvenate the east coast.
Pictured: Stuart Falla CBE has been involved in many community and business initiatives.
The Garenne Group went through a restructuring process last year when it adopted an investment-based model with increased responsibility placed into the hands of the senior directors of many of its trading companies.
In August 2022, Garenne said the management buyout would take some time but, when completed, would result in fewer shareholders at group level with more shareholders in each trading company.
Within months, the Garenne Group was selling off some of its trading assets before the Group itself collapsed into liquidation.
Geomarine in Guernsey was the first to split from Garenne. It was sold off in a management buy out in January 2023 before Garenne or any of its trading assets entered liquidation. At the same time rumours reached Express of a potential management buy out at AFM and other Garenne owned entities.
Geomarine continues to trade and is unconnected with the ongoing situation affecting the Garenne Group and its remaining assets.
Pictured: The collapse of Camerons in February shocked many.
Camerons in Jersey - an equivalent construction firm to Guernsey's R.G. Falla Ltd - went bust in February when work was stopped on its sites with spiralling material and labour costs, the impact of the pandemic and Brexit all blamed. It officially entered liquidation in March.
A month after Camerons was forced out of business the Garenne Group called in liquidators to wind up its assets too, issuing a statement linking its collapse to Camerons.
"Following the liquidation of Camerons Ltd (a subsidiary entity) on 27 March 2023, a number of significant cross guarantee claims have crystallised due to strained trading conditions across the wider GCGL group, which, given the quantum of the claims, has rendered GCGL insolvent."
Rabeys garage in Guernsey was the next to go.
In early April the business closed with immediate effect and 27 job losses as it was found to be insolvent. The Jersey arm of Rabeys followed a few days later with further job losses.
Pictured: Rabeys (in the foreground) and AFM both operated out of sites owned by the Garenne Group.
Along with Geomarine, two other former Garenne owned businesses have been saved through management buyouts.
The four-day Easter weekend saw a number of meetings held before Granite Le Pelley confirmed it was now independently owned, quickly followed by AFM.
The Guernsey branch of AFM was a true management buy out while its equivalent in Jersey was sold separately.
AFM employs 320 staff across the Channel Islands, with smaller numbers employed at Granite Le Pelley and Geomarine. In all, many hundreds of jobs were saved through the management buyouts agreed.
Above: The statement shared with Express by the management team at Granite Le Pelley Ltd.
R.G. Falla seemed to be operating as normal, until this week, when a number of recent business decisions came to light including the renaming of the company as Hurel Ltd and the sale of assets previously owned by the former R.G. Falla Ltd.
In a statement issued in December by the then-R.G. Falla Ltd, the firm said a private investment company had acquired the long standing Guernsey construction business.
The statement said that the newly acquired business would "look forward to continuing to serve Guernsey and the wider community".
However, it is now unclear whether the investment company bought R.G. Falla Ltd - now renamed Hurel Ltd - or a number of firms more recently registered in the island.
Pictured: The undated statement remains live on the R.G. Falla website. Express records show it was released in December.
Over the past year at least three new businesses have been registered in Guernsey with either R.G. Falla or Falla in the name.
While Falla is a prominent Guernsey name, the similarity with Hurel Ltd (formerly R.G. Falla Ltd) continues with a construction theme across all of the newly registered businesses.
R.G. Falla Construction Ltd was registered in August 2022, Falla Small Works was registered in December 2022 and Falla Infrastructure Ltd was registered in January 2023.
It was confirmed to Express earlier this week that the above businesses are all separate to the former R.G. Falla Ltd which was renamed Hurel Ltd earlier this month before entering voluntary liquidation.
This work to establish the new businesses appears to have been running in parallel but entirely independently to the liquidation processes instigated by the Garenne Group and its joint liquidators regarding Hurel Ltd.
R.G. Falla Construction Limited, Falla Small Works and Falla Infrastructure all continue to operate as normal today.
Repeated requests for a comment from the owners of R.G. Falla Construction Ltd have not led to a response yet.
Pictured: R.G. Falla Construction Ltd was registered in Guernsey in August 2022.
The Joint Liquidators of Garenne Group, Garenne Investments, Hurel Ltd, and Rabeys Garage are due to meet with creditors next week.
A series of meetings have been arranged at St James from 09:00 next Friday where the process will be explained to those awaiting any payouts from any of the collapsed businesses.
The Joint Liquidators have also told Express that they will be looking at the sale of Hurel Ltd's assets.
They said that they are aware that "sometime in early March, prior to the Joint Liquidators' appointment, there was a transaction entered into by the directors of the Company in which the Company’s business and assets were sold."
A statement issued on their behalf yesterday said they were not involved with, nor advised upon, the transaction.
Date set for Garenne Group creditors hearing
Creditors of collapsed former Garenne firm to meet
Garenne Group Chairman resigns
Garenne Group announces changes to business model
Garenne Group going into liquidation
AFM confirms split from Garenne
Granite Le Pelley saved by Guernsey bosses
Major building contractor Camerons stops trading with immediate effect
Imminent Management Buyout at AFM
Management buyout moves closer
Creditors of collapsed former Garenne firm to meet
RG Falla moves into 'small works'
States drop education campus contractor
New post-16 campus secures planning consent
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