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Jul 24, 2003
2,289
Newbury, Berkshire.
I wasn't being blasé.
Tried to dispassionately address a question about what could Tony Bloom do if he wanted/needed to get some of his money back. The stadium company and club are two separate legal entities btw, albeit the first is wholly owned by the second.
I agree with you about ownership of the stadium but having a majority shareholder might, on paper, weaken this position as we saw with Archer. This was addressed when DK took over in 1997 but since TB moved in, the position has reverted.

If Bloom wanted some of his money back quickly he would have to take his share options immediately and then sell some of his shareholding, to the extent that he may no longer be a majority shareholder. The only worry will arise about the person(s) he might sell the share to. I would mind if a load of Americans / Arabs / Malaysians / Russians came onto the board ( Gaydamak or Glaziers ), but if the shares were sold to another football minded wealthy individual ( say a Madjeski or a Sugar ) or a consortium of other less wealthy people then I don't think that's a worry and we would no longer have a board where a single investor had a majority.

I think the most interesting part of the jigsaw is the way the corporate packages have been sold will mean that Bloom might even sound out potential investors over the course of the next few seasons from that part of the club.

If TB decided to sell the shares to Peter Ridsdale or float the club on the stock market to get his money back then I might start to panic.
 




Jul 24, 2003
2,289
Newbury, Berkshire.
Quite possibly the same but the point was that TB probably has absolute control and could get some/all of his money out by selling the stadium if he wanted. I'm not implying that he would do so or ever want to but the club's ownership position now is not too dissimilar from when Bill Archer was Chairman.
Another point to ponder on is the position whenever his stadium loans are due for repayment (2023/5?). If it isn't all paid back in cash by then (seems very unlikely) then what equity could he "swap" for such a sum? 90M new shares in a company where he's already a 75%+ majority shareholder with less than 30M - seems odd to me unless there's some tax advantage.

Except that the LAND the stadium stands on ISN'T owned by the Stadium Company, it's owned by Brighton Council on a long leasehold to the stadium company, so the Stadium has no commercial redevelopment value.

In that respect it's similar to the Recreation Ground at Aldershot, when they were wound up no-one could touch the ground for redevelopment because the Council owned the land ( although not the buildings ).
 
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Except that the LAND the stadium stands on ISN'T owned by the Stadium Company, it's owned by Brighton Council on a long leasehold to the stadium company, so the Stadium has no commercial redevelopment value.

In that respect it's similar to the Recreation Ground at Aldershot, when they were wound up no-one could touch the ground for redevelopment because the Council owned the land ( although not the buildings ).

Your right on here, I should have remembered that. I believe the lease gets finalised/signed off when/if the stadium's issued with it's safety certificate.
 


If Bloom wanted some of his money back quickly he would have to take his share options immediately and then sell some of his shareholding, to the extent that he may no longer be a majority shareholder. The only worry will arise about the person(s) he might sell the share to. I would mind if a load of Americans / Arabs / Malaysians / Russians came onto the board ( Gaydamak or Glaziers ), but if the shares were sold to another football minded wealthy individual ( say a Madjeski or a Sugar ) or a consortium of other less wealthy people then I don't think that's a worry and we would no longer have a board where a single investor had a majority.

I think the most interesting part of the jigsaw is the way the corporate packages have been sold will mean that Bloom might even sound out potential investors over the course of the next few seasons from that part of the club.

If TB decided to sell the shares to Peter Ridsdale or float the club on the stock market to get his money back then I might start to panic.

Wouldn't that require a vote by the Board to actually action a CLN debt conversion and the new share issue? Maybe an academic point but I'm not sure TB could do this without a majority Ok from the Board.
 


B.W.

New member
Jul 5, 2003
13,666
Quite possibly the same but the point was that TB probably has absolute control and could get some/all of his money out by selling the stadium if he wanted. I'm not implying that he would do so or ever want to but the club's ownership position now is not too dissimilar from when Bill Archer was Chairman.
Another point to ponder on is the position whenever his stadium loans are due for repayment (2023/5?). If it isn't all paid back in cash by then (seems very unlikely) then what equity could he "swap" for such a sum? 90M new shares in a company where he's already a 75%+ majority shareholder with less than 30M - seems odd to me unless there's some tax advantage.

Fair points there... not sure I can predict what will happen that far out, but I can say that I am as confident as you can be that TB has our club's best interests at heart... he really is a fan, unlike Archer...
 




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