A BUSINESS empire set up by Jared Brook and Lincoln Fraser - the men who saved Morecambe's Midland Hotel - has collapsed owing up to £200 million.

Administrators have been called in at Mayfair-based Imperial Consolidated but local managers overseeing the ambitious £10 million restoration of the art deco landmark say the Midland project will not be affected.

A spokesman for Kalber Leisure, the company in charge of the restoration, told The Citizen that Imperial Consolidated's collapse has no bearing on their plans.

Andrew Lynn said: "Kalber is managed and controlled by chief executive Mike Baron and has funds that are completely separate from Imperial Consolidated.

Our project is unaffected and we will be opening next year as planned."

The Friends of the Midland say they have been encouraged by Kalber's conduct up to now and spokesman Sue Thompson said: "The business world is so precarious at the moment and we've always been aware that any company that came in could go belly up.

"But we've been happy with what we've seen from Kalber so far and they have sound credit references."

This view was echoed by the City Council who is keeping a close eye on the situation.

A spokesman said: "We've made all the checks and Kalber have their own revenue so it should be okay.

"Internal preparation work at the hotel is going ahead and as far as we can determine there are no problems."

Imperial Consolidated was formed in 1994 by Lincoln Fraser and Jared Brook, who were forced to hand over control of the company in 2001 after being disqualified from holding directorships.

The disqualification was a result of their conduct back in the early 1990s when they operated a management company to run the Midland Hotel.

Imperial started as a debt-collecting agency employing 340 people in Britain, but laid most off last year after a series of legal cases.

The administrators were called in on June 16 and many investors UK investors in Imperial Consolidated have attacked the Financial Services Authority for failing to warn them of the risks of investing in the collapsed firm's offshore funds.