Understandably Metter doesn't like being photographed, we had to nick this one from the Torygraph

Ever heard of InnisFree? Well now you have.

In the UK, InnisFree is the largest private investor in healthcare, it owns 269 schools and £3 billion worth of MoD accommodation. It also has a Scottish Motorway, a Welsh Jail and part of Whitehall in its portfolio.

The head leech of Innisfree is the abhorrent chief executive and founder David Metter. This scumbag has made a personal fortune estimated at £60 million from his company’s activities.

So, what does InnisFree do?

InnisFree is the single largest investor in PFI deals in the UK. The company is a leech. It has no purpose whatsoever other than to cynically exploit the public-private mess created by nearly two decades of Labour and Tory mis-management of public services.

The company also arranges PFI investment for third parties. These investors include publicly owned banks like the Lloyds Banking Group (LBG). LBG has subsidiary that, according to its accounts, is a limited partner of InnisFree Fund 3. A nationalised bank is investing in national infrastructure but profit is getting sucked out of both ends leaving the tax payer with a lose-lose.

InnisFree also brags on its website that it manages the investment of the UK’s local authority pension funds. This is, again, perverse. Local authority pensions are being used to invest in schemes that are bankrupting local authorities, while InnisFree takes a slice for being the middleman and creating chaos.

InnisFree has 40 separate companies registered in the UK to manage the network of its clients’ investments. It’s parent company, InnisFree Ltd, paid no tax last year despite making close to £10m in profit. The company also admitted that 72% of its shareholders are based in the tax haven of Guernsey.

Everyone at InnisFree does rather well for themselves. According to a Dow Jones report the average employee took home a tidy £268,000 in 2010 (up by £30,000 from 2008) although senior directors salaries will be much higher.

The Treasury Select Committee announced in August that public procurement through PFI is 1.7 times more expensive than direct procurement through government. With companies like InnisFree leeching off our public services it’s easy to see why.

Globalise Resistance will be holding a public forum on the issue of PFI on Wednesday 7 December at 7pm in Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London (nearest tube Holborn). Who knows, maybe Innisfree will feature in the discussions? We will be organising some direct action on the issue at the forum.