The Manx court has no jurisdiction to appoint liquidators to pursue a rescue package for a heavily debt-laden international food group, a Deemster has ruled.

Creditors of Allana International Limited had presented a claim to wind up the company on the grounds that it is unable to pay its debts.

Allana is a Manx non-operating holding company at the head of an international food group said to have some 83 subsidiaries across 22 jurisdictions and employ more than 14,000 people.

The company owes around US$667m to the four claimants in the case and some US$1.686bn to wider financial creditors, with the debt continuing to increase.

Claimants HSBC Bank Middle East, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai and Dubai Islamic Bank sought the appointment of four joint provisional liquidators and an initial six-month adjournment of the winding-up claim.

The purpose was to remove control from the current directors, stabilise the group, obtain information and investigate, formulate and, if possible, implement a restructuring or rescue.

If no restructuring was possible, the claimants said they would seek the winding up of the company.

But in a judgment, Deemster Alan Gough ruled that the court did not have jurisdiction under the Companies Act 1931 to make such an order.

He acknowledged there were ‘powerful pragmatic and commercial arguments’ in favour of the claim.

Deemster Gough said a rescue could preserve a valuable international business, protect employment and produce a materially better return for creditors than an immediate liquidation.

But the claimants had presented a winding-up petition where the conventional aim would be to protect assets, secure records and hold the position pending determination of that claim.

He noted: ‘As the opponents put it, the joint provisional liquidators would be appointed not to advance a winding-up but to avoid one.’

The claim for a winding-up order remains to be determined.