Club still for sale

[TerracingTomas]

So Mcgoofey has come up with plan B to potentially sell the club. A letter has been sent to fans/club shareholders outlining a plan to issue 1.5 million new shares in the club.

For the uninitiated when Ronnie bought the club for the famous £1 along side the millions of pounds of debt he got 549,850 £1 shares in the club representing 96%of the current allocated shares totalling 573757. After clearing the debt he transferred his 96% shareholding into the hands of Edencrest who hold the controlling shares in the stadium company. So in return he and Les became shareholders in Edencrest and along with Mcgoofey own the club and the controlling share of the stadium company. A stadium with a book value of around £5 million plus.

We know Mcgoofey couldn’t sell the club as no serious bidder wanted a club with a million pound covid debt and no stadium. So plan B is to increase the share capital of the club by 1.5 million £1 shares on top of the existing allocated shareholding of 573575. So maybe one individual will buy the lot effectively giving them control of the club but leaving Mcgoofey and pals with a large enough shareholding to presumably ensure it’s still run the way they want it. Otherwise they are looking a lot of daft individuals to fork out money for paper shares worth virtually nothing.

And what happens to the £1.5 million if raised? Nothing to stop Mcgoofey, Ronnie and Les pocketing it. Alternatively Mcgoofey spends it on his luxury drug rehab unit. You can bet it won’t be spent on the first team squad. War chest what war chest.

Oh and obviously Mcgoofey, Ronnie and Les keep their grubby hands on the stadium

[porcupine]

Oh and obviously Mcgoofey, Ronnie and Les keep their grubby hands on the stadium

IMO, TT, I think you should withdraw this sentence from your post.

Let’s not forget that it took a courageous decision by Ronnie & Les to invest in an apparently bankrupt club run by two individuals, (one of whom is still around to presumably protect his original investment).

Our Club would probably have folded twenty years ago otherwise.

If, and only if, Ronnie still has shares in Edencrest, though not serving as a Director, then he’s entitled to protect his original and subsequent financial support for HAFC, as does Les Gray. Companies House does not clarify what the current position is, though.

Until that is clear for all to see (if ever) then it still remains a series of smoke and mirrors as far as who owns what for any investor. Yesterdays press report showed the top three most in vestibule Scottish Championship Clubs to be Arbroath, Ayr & Livingston. No surprise to me that Accies failed to appear!

[TerracingTomas]

Porcupine. Nothing has changed re the ownership. Ronnie has gone nowhere apart from resigning as a director of Edencrest. He was at the game yesterday and if you think he isn’t pulling strings through Maitland ur a mug and you are no mug. As was made clear this summer, Accies are now merely a tenant of a stadium that was designed and built for the club. Ronnie did indeed save the club and that is acknowledged by 99% of the fans but his legacy is undermined by his continued ‘tolerance’ of Mcgoofeys’ commercial antics. He should come clean and explain his vision for the future for the club and the stadium that currently looks like it’s part of three individuals’ pension pot.

[porcupine]

As has been said before, it’s likely that offers have been made to one of the two ‘owners’ that were around when Ronnie came in, to leave with a return on funds invested at that stage. It appears that any such offer was way below what would tempt him to give up what must have been some ongoing personal financial benefit. Particularly in a business that he allegedly had no interest in! I suspect “Tollerance” is exhausted in this scenario.
There’s a price in everything but one man’s demands might well exceed another man’s common sense approach in negotiations.

Is this ‘new share issue’ an attempt to dilute Ronnie’s holding in Edencrest to a minority, rather than what appears to be a majority?

Can’t see ANYONE falling for that.

[TerracingTomas]

Porcupine It’s not shares in Edencrest that are being offered, it’s shares in HAFC Ltd so even if you bought all the shares on offer all you dilute is the shares Edencrest hold in the club.

[porcupine]

Where’s all the info on this sale,please?

[TerracingTomas]

Letter has gone out to all existing shareholders many of whom are fans owning anything from 10 to 100. I assume there is a legal requirement to do so. I’m not a shareholder so haven’t received one.

[porcupine]

Thanks,TT. Shares in the actual original football club were always considered worthless and only a token of support, after the different snakes of companies were set up for tax reasons for a few. Needless to say, despite decades of supporting Accies & Season Tickets from the Eighties, I don’t have any shares either!

Can’t believe anyone would invest in anything connected with this, on how you’ve described it. Love to see the offer though? Anyone out there with a link?

[TerracingTomas]

So we are told the playing budget is very tight and we must rely on yuf. Obviously as no signings yet loan or otherwise. We are told the club can’t afford to meet their contractual obligations when they sack the manager until Stans lawyers’ get involved And we are told every penny raised commercially is going towards getting us back in the Premiership. So where did the money come from to repay a number of charges held by the bank over the stadium and surrounding land?

For those of us who aren’t financial wizards and I had to look it up. “A charge, or mortgage, refers to the rights a company gives to a lender in return for a loan. The rights are often in the form of security given over a company asset or group of assets.”

According to Companies House between 10 and 14 June the stadium company cleared 5 charges that the bank held against various parcels of land and assets which make up the stadium and surrounding area. Is that why there is no money for the first team squad, are they clearing old loans to take out new ones to pay for the drugs rehab clinic. Is that where the money from the clubs new share issue is going? Can we expect the usual ‘Boris Johnston’ explanation?

[Billybamz]

Probably.

[Top Cross]

If, and only if, Ronnie still has shares in Edencrest, though not serving as a Director, then he’s entitled to protect his original and subsequent financial support for HAFC, as does Les Gray. Companies House does not clarify what the current position is, though.

A new Confirmation Statement is available at Companies House and it looks like Ronnie (and his kids) no longer have any shareholding in Edencrest. Their 45% is now in the hands of McGowan meaning he has 90% of the shares. This in turn means he owns 87.3% of the football club and 49.5% of the stadium.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC251459/filing-history

[TerracingTomas]

Good spot TC. I see also that the 2 new appointees to the so called commercial board McCallion and Strain are now also directors of the football club. And when I pointed out in an earlier post that a number of charges had been cleared at the bank a new one has just been created so it looks like Mcgowan has remortgaged the stadium. See the Stadium Company listing at companies house.