Jacob Rees-Mogg shares £4m payout from Somerset Capital closure

Jacob Rees-Mogg is set to receive a hefty payday after his company was declared bankrupt.

The former Conservative MP, who lost his seat at the last election, will share a pot worth £4.4m following the collapse of his company Somerset Capital, which he co-founded with Edward Robertson and Lord Johnson in 2007.

He is one of 24 shareholders expected to get their money back.

Somerset announced its intention to close in December last year after the company’s largest client, St James’s Place, terminated the partnership due to poor performance.

Liquidators of James Cowper Kreston were appointed last month to oversee the company’s liquidation and found the business in good health.

Somerset Capital exited with a financial surplus of £4.4m and no debt, according to a solvency report filed with Companies House.

The surplus allowed Sir Jacob and his fellow shareholders to claim some of the remaining money. A vote on 1 August decided that the sum of £4.4 million would be distributed ‘among the members’ of the partnership.

The move marks the latest for Somerset Capital, a specialist emerging markets fund manager which had £7.6bn of assets under management at its peak in 2018.