Skaville
Well-known member
From today's Guardian.
What is going on at Gillingham? The club sold their Priestfield stadium for £10m in May 2008 in a deal that was funded by a loan from the taxpayer-owned Bank of Scotland. Now, little more than three years later, an AGM has been called at which Paul Scally, Gillingham's owner, will authorise the sale of the ground back to the club for only £1,050,000 – which works out at roughly a 10th of its previous value.
The vendor is Priestfield Developments Ltd, a company linked to the Gills through Scally's ownership via GFC Holdings Limited, which has been the club's and the stadium company's parent since the 2008 deal was structured. The cash at the time was used to repay £9m of the football entity's then £12.6m bank loans. But the total indebtedness of Gillingham and Priestfield Developments had grown by May 2010 to £15m. With the club now in League Two, that picture is likely to be worse. Even so, the Gills must find a little over £1m to buy back the stadium.
Perhaps Scally has provided his own security from offshore assets – he has been living in Dubai – but there has been no explanation. It is all very odd. Digger asked Scally on Thursday for the reason behind what is seemingly an extremely generous decision either by Scally or the bank to hand over the stadium for what seems such a relatively small sum. "These questions are for the shareholders to ask," he said. "I can't discuss it with you because I am bound by confidentiality agreements and it would be inappropriate to comment."
There are no regulatory restrictions on Scally talking about the matter: Gillingham, a plc, is not in a takeover period. Still, shareholders had better get their questions in quickly at the 5 August AGM – its second resolution is to amend the company's articles of association "so as to remove the requirement for the company to hold AGMs"
Mystery of £1m deal for Gillingham to buy back Priestfield Stadium | Football | The Guardian
What is going on at Gillingham? The club sold their Priestfield stadium for £10m in May 2008 in a deal that was funded by a loan from the taxpayer-owned Bank of Scotland. Now, little more than three years later, an AGM has been called at which Paul Scally, Gillingham's owner, will authorise the sale of the ground back to the club for only £1,050,000 – which works out at roughly a 10th of its previous value.
The vendor is Priestfield Developments Ltd, a company linked to the Gills through Scally's ownership via GFC Holdings Limited, which has been the club's and the stadium company's parent since the 2008 deal was structured. The cash at the time was used to repay £9m of the football entity's then £12.6m bank loans. But the total indebtedness of Gillingham and Priestfield Developments had grown by May 2010 to £15m. With the club now in League Two, that picture is likely to be worse. Even so, the Gills must find a little over £1m to buy back the stadium.
Perhaps Scally has provided his own security from offshore assets – he has been living in Dubai – but there has been no explanation. It is all very odd. Digger asked Scally on Thursday for the reason behind what is seemingly an extremely generous decision either by Scally or the bank to hand over the stadium for what seems such a relatively small sum. "These questions are for the shareholders to ask," he said. "I can't discuss it with you because I am bound by confidentiality agreements and it would be inappropriate to comment."
There are no regulatory restrictions on Scally talking about the matter: Gillingham, a plc, is not in a takeover period. Still, shareholders had better get their questions in quickly at the 5 August AGM – its second resolution is to amend the company's articles of association "so as to remove the requirement for the company to hold AGMs"
Mystery of £1m deal for Gillingham to buy back Priestfield Stadium | Football | The Guardian
