Collins comes in to clean up right royal mess

 Good to see the former chief operating officer of Land Securities return from prolonged royal duties. The FT says today that Mark Collins is joining the Lloyds Banking Group to help with the restructuring of its loan book; presumably the appalling property loans acquired when Lloyds took over HBOS.

In 2006 Collins was persuaded by former LandSecs CEO Ian Henderson to set up a property fund called Tellesma, which would benefit charities backed by the Prince of Wales. What could go wrong?  There was royal patronage, plus the support of Fleming's private bank, plus Ian Henderson as chairman.

It all went wrong. The Prince wanted to back green-only developments. Tellesma spent so long finding anything suitable the market went from under them. Nobody would then put any money in, not even the usual suspects from the Middle East.

To prevent the embarrassment of the LLP fund being wound up by administrators, Flemings quietly paid off the debts.

The move by the former COO of LandSecs to Lloyds signals the final demise of an idea dreamed up by some very powerful property folk after a discreet dinner or two with HRH at Clarence House.  Not many will admit to their involvement now.

The widely-liked Collins now has a proper job: helping sort out the right royal mess left behind by Peter Cummings, head of property lending at HBOS.  Now, there was a man who found it very easy to invest in property.