Investors in a Lancashire property empire are expecting to find out today, Tuesday, what they will receive following the firm's £40m collapse.

Those who have ploughed money into Harewood Associates - which had links with both Bolton and Darwen - have been told a High Court hearing is pending in Manchester which could outline what returns they can reasonably expect after the company went into liquidation more than four years ago.

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The Lancashire Telegraph and our sister paper The Bolton News have previously reported estimates given by administrators Begbie Traynor that investors could only receive between seven and 16 pence in the pound back.

But sources now say that figure could be as low as two pence in the pound for certain investors, amid a complex web of inter-company transactions overseen by brothers David and Peter Kiely.

Harewood Associates, and the Kielys, had been offering investors an eight per cent return on property schemes under a number of guises.

Investor creditors are believed to number around 850 - with the number of claims being processed around the 1,700 mark.

Shortly after Harewood went under, the Kielys, switched the base of its main debtor from an HQ in Chorley New Road, Bolton, to offices in Dalton Court, in Commercial Road, Darwen.

Administrators said their largest debt was to Sherwood Homes, at £19.2m, run by the Kielys and owned by Clifton Argyle Ltd, of Dalton Court.

Another £16.7m was owed by Harewood Venture Capital (HVC), also ultimately owned by Clifton Argyle. A third Kielys outfit, Lansdowne Investment Partnership, under Walbury Commercial Ltd, based in Darwen since 2016, owed £2.8m.

Southworth Construction, a further Clifton Argyle offshoot, owed £1m and another Kiely company, Prestige New Homes, owed £345,000.

Administrators reported in February that they had been able to recoup £1m from Harewood's shareholding in a company called Equalscale, which owned Geo Noblett Plant Hire.

This firm had transferred a plot of land to Heron Homes, also managed by Clifton Argyle, before attempts were made to dissolve Geo Noblett.

Administrators found out no money had changed hands on that deal and successfully argued Harewood Associates was entitled to at least £1m.

Joint administrators Dean Watson and Paul Stanley pledge earlier this year that work was ongoing with senior counsel to formulate a distribution plan for any recoverable funds.

In a statement, they added: "This will be way of an application by the liquidator seeking directions from the court sanctioning the proposed distribution. This will also include the treatment of SPV (special purpose vehicle) creditors."