The financial regulator has appointed an adviser to assume control of the affairs of an island-based investment fund.

Quadris Environmental Forestry Fund PCC plc, which has a registered office on Athol Street, Douglas, was launched in 2001 and has more than £100m invested in the teak plantations of Floresteca in Brazil.

But last year it posted a $20m loss, with the auditors saying there were significant concerns about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Last September, the Financial Services Authority appointed Gordon Wilson of CW Consulting as an adviser to the fund.

And on February 15, shareholders were notified that Mr Wilson had been appointed to assume control of the affairs of the fund, making him the main decision maker for its operation and oversight.

On the same day it was announced that Estera Fund Services (Isle of Man) would replace Blue Sea International as the Isle of Man manager of the fund.

The remaining directors, Ernie Thorn and John Mudge, remain in office.

An investor meeting is being arrange by Mr Wilson, provisionally booked for March 22.

Quadris Environmental Forestry Fund PCC Plc is classed as an Isle of Man qualifying fund.

Such funds have no minimum initial investment level, need no regulatory pre-approval and are normally sold through Independent Financial Advisers to qualifying investors.

* In Tynwald last week, questions were raised about issues with another type of investment fund - exempt collective investment schemes.

These are private arrangements not directly subject to regulation, with no more than 50 investors and which are expressly prohibited from inviting the public to subscribe in any part of the world.

Lawrie Hooper (LibVan, Ramsey) asked how many of these schemes had collapsed in the last five years.

In a written reply, Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan listed 32 exempt schemes which had ceased in the last five years.

In addition there were another two schemes in which the regulator had to intervene - the Guardian schemes in 2013 and Puritan Investments in 2012.

Mr Cannan explained there is no requirement to notify the FSA of any new exempt schemes or exempt schemes that have ceased.

In September 2016 there were 126 exempt schemes managed or administered by licenceholders. Not all schemes are managed or administered by a licenceholder, however.

In the third quarter of that year, nine new exempt schemes were reported and 13 ceased to be reported. Total net asset value stood at £4.71bn, up 6.7 per cent on the previous quarter.