West Midlands Entrepreneur Tim Watts has recently brought the notorious ruby known as the Gem of Tanzania. The uncut stone weighing 4.411lbs became famous after it was exchanged for £11m worth of shares in doomed firm Wrekin Construction. After a second evaluation it was discovered the stone had been considerably over valued and as a key asset on the businesses books significantly contributed to the collapse of Wrekin Construction.

Tim Watts, Group Chairman of Network Group Holdings, acquired the stone for the sum of £8010, more than a thousand times less than the original valuation of the ruby following a private auction held by Administrators Ernst & Young. More than 60 offers were received for the gem, before being secured by Network.

Network Group stated that the stone was bought in order to compensate it for the losses Network Construction Services, part of the Network Group incurred when Wrekin called in the Administrators.

Jon Smith, Group Operations Director for Network Group said, “It quickly became apparent to us following Wrekin’s collapse that we would be unlikely to recover what was owed to us through normal channels. We have therefore opted to make this strategic investment and the ruby has been placed in the Birmingham Deposit Centre for safekeeping where we hope it will continue to rise in value.”
Network Group has decided to keep the Gem off the balance sheets.