How are these transfers being funded? Cash or finance?

[NMH]

Some people still think SMALL time potless pillock MENTALITY, we are in the BIG time now and the days of Dick Tight INTERFERING and TRYING to run the club are LONG gone.
We are a BIG club now and MILLION pound transfers are NOTHING anymore.

You put the word 'big' in caps twice, and emphasized mostly correctly in this post.

This is poor form Ernest, you are becoming a sellout and playing a commercial ditty on that fiddle, boy.
I see you losing your edge

 

[Pondicherry]

TB is not just a gambler, but a highly successful business man too.

Any actual evidence of this?

 

[Whitterz]

Any actual evidence of this?

Stumping up £100m in a football club might suggest so.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Any actual evidence of this?

Informative piece here from when TB took over, worth a read if you really don't know what he and the Bloom family are about. By an NSC poster too.

'I'm no Abramovich' says new Brighton chairman | Football League - Times Online

 

[Pondicherry]

Stumping up £100m in a football club might suggest so.

That is evidence that Tony has access to £100m - not that he is a successful businessman. I know that Tony Bloom is a gambler (poker, Premierbet, Star Lizard etc) but I have never heard of any major successful business ventures he is involved with. I love the fact that we have a new stadium, promotion and are signing £1m pound players but when it comes down to it - we (the fans) do not know where the money came from. Some will say we have no right to know where the money came from. Others might say otherwise.

 

[Pondicherry]

Informative piece here from when TB took over, worth a read if you really don't know what he and the Bloom family are about. By an NSC poster too.

'I'm no Abramovich' says new Brighton chairman | Football League - Times Online

I have seen this before but re-read to refresh my memory.

Was written in 2009 - for the Times - who in 2011 still did not include Tony in their rich list. Surely they had heard of him by then.
Playing devils advocat for a moment:

1. Tony seems to say most of his money was in UK Property investment - in which case he would have been trying to raise funds in a falling property market.
2. If Tony had the funds - why would the club even have tried to ask banks to borrow the money in the knowledge that it would have burdened the club in massive debt.
3. Nowhere does it specifically state in the article, how the funds were raised.

I know this makes me seem anti Tony - but I am really not - it is that to a certain extent he is very much a man of mystery.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

TB isn't in the Times rich list because his wealth is spread worldwide and is difficult to ascertain.
1. TB will be playing the long game on property , 25 years or more , the market will go up and down but historically give a better return over other forms of investment.
2. A 40 year mortgage would have been likely taken out on the stadium , taking inflation into account the payments would appear to be a minor burden for the last few years of the term.
3. We'll probably only find out when hands the business over to his son and TB writes his memoirs.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

I have seen this before but re-read to refresh my memory.

Was written in 2009 - for the Times - who in 2011 still did not include Tony in their rich list. Surely they had heard of him by then.
Playing devils advocat for a moment:

1. Tony seems to say most of his money was in UK Property investment - in which case he would have been trying to raise funds in a falling property market.
2. If Tony had the funds - why would the club even have tried to ask banks to borrow the money in the knowledge that it would have burdened the club in massive debt.3. Nowhere does it specifically state in the article, how the funds were raised.

I know this makes me seem anti Tony - but I am really not - it is that to a certain extent he is very much a man of mystery.

I've never met TB but Nick Szeczpanik and others I know say that he doesn't court publicity - he's not that sort of guy. The Times's Rich List and its like are based on some educated guesswork but more so on what's in the public domain. Maybe TB has his wealth under wraps somehwere or it's difficult for the media to quantify in money terms - I don't know and don't think it's any of my business.
Your second point's quite an interesting one, particularly if you look at it alongside the BHA Holding Company's records lodged at Companies House - sounds a bit geekish perhaps but here goes:
1) It's been widely assumed that, had it not been for the banking collapse, the Albion would have commercially borrowed the money to finance the Amex Stadium. Anyone who runs a business and has a passing awareness on the Albions financial position at Withdean would raise an eyebrow at this contention. El Pres, who lectures this sort of stuff at Manchester Univ, did some "back of a fag (no pun intended) packet" calculations a few years back and came up with an absolute max of £25M might have been available from commercial borrowing at that time.
2) In May 2008, the Albion Board authorised the issue of 30M new (£1) shares, this is filed at CH. They weren't issued immediately (see later) leaving DK the largest shareholder with about 23%, TB (not then a Director or Board member) held about 8%. At the same time the Board issued a £20M loan note facility (filed at CH) whereby debt can be converted into equity (ie 20M new shares); this wasn't initiated immediately either but DK said, in response to a question at the pre-season Fan's Forum in summer 2008, that it would be used to "repay" Shareholder loans.
3) As of 2008 (financial year end) the club owed TB £11.3M in unsecured loans rising to £16.9M in the following year, when TB became the majority shareholder on conversion of these loans into shares.
The Swiss Ramble: Good Old Sussex By The Sea
4) There have been further authorisations for new shares (50M) and convertible loan notes (£40M) but I don't know if any have been actioned.
My point (eventually) is that TB was always going to take over the Club and provide a significant tranche of the Stadium finance. Probably a bit earlier and bit more than he expected but we have the Credit Derivative Bundle Swap monkeys to thank for that. Don't forget that there is still debt, interest free yes, but still capital to repay including a further £16M for the training ground announced subsequently and I'd be amazed it's all paid back as equity.

Finally, it might be worth a look back at what TB said when he took over as chairman:
He would finance the building of the Falmer Stadium - job done almost
He would continue to finance the ongoing Club's losses associated with playing at Withdean - job done and I assume the remaining CLN's and new shares will be used to "repay".
The Club must be self-financing at Falmer. Great initial job done on increasing the income but jury's out until the first set of accounts/returns are filed post Amex move (probably March 2013). I really, really hope he meant this and sticks to it.

 

[B.W.]

I've never met TB but Nick Szeczpanik and others I know say that he doesn't court publicity - he's not that sort of guy. The Times's Rich List and its like are based on some educated guesswork but more so on what's in the public domain. Maybe TB has his wealth under wraps somehwere or it's difficult for the media to quantify in money terms - I don't know and don't think it's any of my business.
Your second point's quite an interesting one, particularly if you look at it alongside the BHA Holding Company's records lodged at Companies House - sounds a bit geekish perhaps but here goes:
1) It's been widely assumed that, had it not been for the banking collapse, the Albion would have commercially borrowed the money to finance the Amex Stadium. Anyone who runs a business and has a passing awareness on the Albions financial position at Withdean would raise an eyebrow at this contention. El Pres, who lectures this sort of stuff at Manchester Univ, did some "back of a fag (no pun intended) packet" calculations a few years back and came up with an absolute max of £25M might have been available from commercial borrowing at that time.
2) In May 2008, the Albion Board authorised the issue of 30M new (£1) shares, this is filed at CH. They weren't issued immediately (see later) leaving DK the largest shareholder with about 23%, TB (not then a Director or Board member) held about 8%. At the same time the Board issued a £20M loan note facility (filed at CH) whereby debt can be converted into equity (ie 20M new shares); this wasn't initiated immediately either but DK said, in response to a question at the pre-season Fan's Forum in summer 2008, that it would be used to "repay" Shareholder loans.
3) As of 2008 (financial year end) the club owed TB £11.3M in unsecured loans rising to £16.9M in the following year, when TB became the majority shareholder on conversion of these loans into shares.
The Swiss Ramble: Good Old Sussex By The Sea
4) There have been further authorisations for new shares (50M) and convertible loan notes (£40M) but I don't know if any have been actioned.
My point (eventually) is that TB was always going to take over the Club and provide a significant tranche of the Stadium finance. Probably a bit earlier and bit more than he expected but we have the Credit Derivative Bundle Swap monkeys to thank for that. Don't forget that there is still debt, interest free yes, but still capital to repay including a further £16M for the training ground announced subsequently and I'd be amazed it's all paid back as equity.

Finally, it might be worth a look back at what TB said when he took over as chairman:
He would finance the building of the Falmer Stadium - job done almost
He would continue to finance the ongoing Club's losses associated with playing at Withdean - job done and I assume the remaining CLN's and new shares will be used to "repay".
The Club must be self-financing at Falmer. Great initial job done on increasing the income but jury's out until the first set of accounts/returns are filed post Amex move (probably March 2013). I really, really hope he meant this and sticks to it.

Thank you for that recap Alex, Alex Dawson... in summary, we owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to Tony...

 

[ForeverAGull]

Cash. For example, the 2,600 1901 members paid a £1,000 up front net of vat each = £2.6m, and our season ticket dd's are now 3 months paid.

And dont forget the people that paied the full price in one go for season tickets