assists

US regulator assists inquiry into Indigo

The US financial watchdog is believed to be helping the financial services authority with its inquiry into the stake building activities of Indigo Capital, a New York financial advisory company, which last week said it was considering an offer Regus, the troubled offices group.

News of cooperation between the securities and exchange commission and the FSA comes amid claims that Robert Bonnier, the former chief executive of dotcom flop Scoot.com, has close links to Indigo Capital.

The FSA is thought to be looking into Indigo’s stakebuilding in Regus, which has helped Regus shares double since the start of the year.

Last Tuesday, Indigo issued a statement in which said it was interested in exploring a “wide range of strategic, commercial and financing alternatives with the Regus, one of which may include a recommended takeover”.

On Wednesday it emerged that Indigo had been selling down its stake in Regus and on Thursday it revealed that it owned only 0.12% of its 12.7% stake.

Indigo said the balance was being held through a derivatives instrument known as “contracts for difference” taken out with spread betting company Cantor Fitzgerald.

Little is known about Indigo, which was set up in 1998 and became an active investor in internet companies such ci4net.com and Novix Media at the height of the 90s dotcom boom.

Its founders are Larry Bouts, a former chief executive of Six Flags Theme Parks and president of Toys R Us International, and Anthony Dubb, once a senior executive at investment bank CSFB.

The company occupies a suite in a brutal black skyscraper at the swanky address of 450 Park Avenue, New York. The building has seen better days. Alfred Dunhill, which occupied much of the store front at street level, has moved elsewhere. The entrance to the offices is undergoing refurbishment and an optimistic drawing of the plans sits in the temporary back entrance.

Indigo’s offices are on the 21st floor, a dimly lit and narrow corridor of suites most of which appear to be financial boutiques of one kind or another with names such as Lily Pond Capital and Blue Hill Holdings.

Indigo shares its suite with American Investments, behind a solid, powder blue door. The firm was not receptive to inquiries from the Guardian.

A secretary with her desk close to the door took a business card to one of the two frosted glass-encased offices visible from the door.

“The person you need to talk to is travelling,” the secretary explained as she returned, adding that she could not give out names or phone numbers.

Tags: assists, Indigo, Inquiry, Into, regulator