Post by QPR Report on Jun 9, 2009 6:32:31 GMT
A couple of items 
Newcastle Official Site
NUFC Statement
- The Board of Newcastle United can today confirm that the Club is for sale at the price of £100m.- Interested parties should contact Newcastle United at admin@nufc.co.uk (or Keith Harris at Seymour Pierce) for further details.
- The Club will not be making any further comment at the present time. www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1687615,00.html
Guardian
West Ham's new owners face risk of financial collapse• Bankruptcy proceedings could start in 72 hours
• Thursday deadline for six-month moratorium with creditors
The parent company of CB Holding, which took over West Ham on Monday, faces a hearing on Thursday to determine whether it can have a six-month extension to a standstill with creditors. Photograph: Bertrand Langlois/AFP/Getty Images
West Ham United's new owners may be forced into bankruptcy proceedings within 72 hours, casting doubt on assurances that it has brought stability to Upton Park.
CB Holding, a special-purpose vehicle whose 70% shareholder is the stricken Icelandic investment bank Straumur, took control of the Premier League club on Monday. Straumur said the move, first revealed by this column in April, was necessary because a moratorium – a suspension of payments to creditors – granted to the club's former owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson's investment company, Hansa, was due to expire on Tuesday.
In the event that Hansa had, as expected, been declared bankrupt West Ham would have been liable to Premier League sanctions. However, Straumur, which is effectively bust, has a similar moratorium over its own liabilities and must apply on Thursday to the District Court of Reykjavik for a six-month extension to that agreement.
In a presentation made to creditors last Friday Straumur executives said: "The moratorium provides a 'standstill' period during which Straumur can pursue a restructuring of its financial position. Unless Straumur successfully petitions the court for an extension, the moratorium will end on 11 June 2009. As stated above, Straumur intends to apply for a six-month extension of its moratorium."
Even if the Reykjavik court is persuaded the moratorium should be extended, Straumur must convince creditors its plans for West Ham and its other managed assets are acceptable. The transformation of the collapsed investment bank into an asset-management company is said to be a fait accompli by Straumur's spin doctors in Iceland and London. But it depends on a "composition agreement" under which creditors accept a fixed sum.
A meeting at which creditors may present their claims against Straumur is set for 6 August. If agreement cannot be reached, the outlook for West Ham's new owner is stark – a winding-up committee, made up of three attorneys of Iceland's supreme court and independent of the Straumur executive, would be called into action.
"If composition proceedings are rejected, or the attempt to seek a composition is unsuccessful, the winding-up committee will request that the district court place Straumur's estate in bankruptcy proceedings," said the presentation to creditors. "A liquidator would then be appointed by the district court." Straumur's confidential statements to its creditors on Friday would seem to be at odds with claims it made in public yesterday.
"CB Holding fully supports the executive management of the club and acknowledges the considerable progress achieved this season both by Scott Duxbury, chief executive of West Ham, and the club's manager, Gianfranco Zola," said a statement. "CB Holding has no intention of changing the executive management or direction of the club."
If Straumur fails to reach agreement with creditors or to persuade the courts to extend the moratorium, it will present a severe test for the Premier League's rules governing fit and proper persons. Under those regulations directors and significant shareholders cannot have been made bankrupt. They are currently designed for individuals but, in the event that a club's controlling shareholder is a bankrupt company, the league's board would examine it.
The league confirmed it has asked West Ham to provide documentation. "We have asked West Ham to produce details of the change of ownership," said a spokesman. "Once we have that information we will assess it and, if needs be, act accordingly."
Even if Straumur's plans pass muster with the courts, creditors and league, there will be no return to the liberal spending of Gudmundsson. According to its presentation to creditors Straumur will now rely on "the establishment of a new and simplified business model appropriate to the reduced activities and scale of Straumur's operations as an asset management business".
Company gets shirty
Its ownership of West Ham United might prove to be short-lived but Straumur at least knows what the club's fans hold dear. CB Holding is not a reference to the citizen-band radio beloved of truckers but rather the colour of the club shirt: CB stands for claret and blue.
Charity pays price
The Football Association has warned its fellow Football Foundation stakeholders of its proposal to cut 20% from its £15m-a-year contribution to the grassroots sport charity. The FA is known to be in the midst of a wholesale review of its expenditure as it wrestles with the impact of the expected collapse of one of its main broadcast partners, Setanta, whose deal to cover England and FA Cup matches is worth almost £44m a year. The news will cast new light on the appropriateness of the hugely unpopular switch of its headquarters to Wembley in August. Not only has it alienated staff but also – because no tenant is willing to take up the £2m-a-year rent on the current Soho Square headquarters – critics will make the link that grassroots football is being asked to fund the vanity move....
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/09/west-ham-takeover-collapse-iceland-digger
David Conn/The Guardian -Liverpool pay US owners millions in expenses• Tom Hicks and George Gillett claim nearly £2m in 18 months
• Supporters angry as club pays for travel and legal costs
Liverpool are being made to pay almost £2m to cover the travel, legal and other personal expenses of the club's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The accounts published for the owners' holding company, Kop Football, for the year to 31 July 2008, show that Hicks charged £192,000 for "third party consulting, travel and other expenses," while Gillett charged £129,000 for "reimbursable travel, legal, personnel and other expenses".
The two men charged significant amounts of money for the same expenses, incurred by themselves personally "and affiliated companies", during the previous seven-month accounting period, which ran from 18 December 2006 to 31 July 2007, too. Hicks charged Kop £198,000, while Gillett charged £375,000.
The pair also claimed almost £1m for what are described in the accounts as "transaction-related expenses". Hicks and affiliated companies charged Kop £133,000 in this category, while Gillett's figure was much higher: £823,000. The total charged to Kop in expenses, for the owners and their affiliated companies, in 18 months from their takeover in early February 2007 to the accounts' end date of 31 July 2008, was £1.85m.
The accounts do not explain in further detail what "consulting, travel, legal, personnel and other expenses" were, or which were regarded as "reimbursable", and Hicks and Gillett were not available to respond with details yesterday. Nor was there any explanation of what constituted "transaction-related expenses". However, the only substantial transaction from December 2006 to July 2007 was the pair's takeover of the club itself. They borrowed £185m from the Royal Bank of Scotland to buy Liverpool in February 2007, and the club has been made responsible for paying the interest on that loan. Now it seems the club has also been made to pay for the pair's costs of doing the deal.
The accounts, published last week, showed that Kop owed a total of £313m to the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia in January this year, and that £36.8m was payable in interest last year. Kop's only asset is Liverpool Football Club so the interest, and the reimbursement of expenses, have to come from the club's income, made from television, supporters paying to watch matches, and other commercial earnings. Hicks and Gillett did loan Kop £58.2m from their holding company in the Cayman Islands last year.
Not all the expenses claimed had been paid by July 2008. The accounts state that of the £523,000 charged by Hicks and his affiliates, £188,000 was still owed, which meant he had been paid £335,000 by Liverpool. Of the £1.327m Gillett claimed for his expenses, £255,000 was outstanding, so Liverpool had paid him £1.072m.
The revelation about the expenses has further incensed supporters' groups who have campaigned for Hicks and Gillett to sell up and leave. The groups accuse the pair of breaking their promise not to make the club pay for their own borrowings to take it over, as the Glazer family did at Manchester United. Liverpool was sold because the previous chairman, David Moores, and chief executive, Rick Parry, believed the club needed wealthy backers to build the long-planned new stadium on Stanley Park, yet the North American pair have not found the finance.
James McKenna, spokesman for the Spirit of Shankly fans' group, said: "Hicks and Gillett were the multimillionaires who promised not to do a Glazer and that work would start on the new stadium within 60 days. Yet now we find, as fans, not only are we paying for their takeover, but we are also paying for their costs of having done it, and, for coming over to visit the football club. They were supposed to bring investment to take the club forward, but it turns out we're even paying their travel costs."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/08/liverpool-tom-hicks-george-gillet
Guardian
Newcastle's online 'for sale' statement sparks joke bidding war• Email address inundated with prank offers for Newcastle
• Mike Ashley took unusual step of advertising on club website
Newcastle United have been inundated with joke offers after Mike Ashley invited anyone interested in buying the club to make contact via email.
Supporters of Newcastle's local rivals, Sunderland, took particular delight in responding to a statement on the relegated club's website which said that potential purchasers could go through the unusual process of emailing admin@nufc.co.uk.
The statement emphasised that £100m is the asking price sought by Ashley, the Newcastle owner. It also said that contact could be made via Keith Harris, chairman of investment bankers Seymour Pierce, who has been seeking a buyer.
But the invitation to email Newcastle with prank offers proved irresistible to many rival supporters. One Sunderland fan bid 10p and another wrote: "I would like to lodge an official bid to buy NUFC. The amount I am offering is £10. Should I be successful I will be appointing myself as team manager, as I am currently in a management role in the Peterlee Sunday League."
Ashley has slashed his asking price for Newcastle as he attempts to secure the sale of the club he bought in 2007. The full statement on the club's website yesterday read: "The board of Newcastle United can today confirm that the club is for sale at the price of £100million.
"Interested parties should contact Newcastle United at admin@nufc.co.uk (or Keith Harris at Seymour Pierce) for further details. The club will not be making any further comment at the present time."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/09/newcastle-sale-email-address-jokes
Newcastle Official Site
NUFC Statement
- The Board of Newcastle United can today confirm that the Club is for sale at the price of £100m.- Interested parties should contact Newcastle United at admin@nufc.co.uk (or Keith Harris at Seymour Pierce) for further details.
- The Club will not be making any further comment at the present time. www.nufc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10278~1687615,00.html
Guardian
West Ham's new owners face risk of financial collapse• Bankruptcy proceedings could start in 72 hours
• Thursday deadline for six-month moratorium with creditors
The parent company of CB Holding, which took over West Ham on Monday, faces a hearing on Thursday to determine whether it can have a six-month extension to a standstill with creditors. Photograph: Bertrand Langlois/AFP/Getty Images
West Ham United's new owners may be forced into bankruptcy proceedings within 72 hours, casting doubt on assurances that it has brought stability to Upton Park.
CB Holding, a special-purpose vehicle whose 70% shareholder is the stricken Icelandic investment bank Straumur, took control of the Premier League club on Monday. Straumur said the move, first revealed by this column in April, was necessary because a moratorium – a suspension of payments to creditors – granted to the club's former owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson's investment company, Hansa, was due to expire on Tuesday.
In the event that Hansa had, as expected, been declared bankrupt West Ham would have been liable to Premier League sanctions. However, Straumur, which is effectively bust, has a similar moratorium over its own liabilities and must apply on Thursday to the District Court of Reykjavik for a six-month extension to that agreement.
In a presentation made to creditors last Friday Straumur executives said: "The moratorium provides a 'standstill' period during which Straumur can pursue a restructuring of its financial position. Unless Straumur successfully petitions the court for an extension, the moratorium will end on 11 June 2009. As stated above, Straumur intends to apply for a six-month extension of its moratorium."
Even if the Reykjavik court is persuaded the moratorium should be extended, Straumur must convince creditors its plans for West Ham and its other managed assets are acceptable. The transformation of the collapsed investment bank into an asset-management company is said to be a fait accompli by Straumur's spin doctors in Iceland and London. But it depends on a "composition agreement" under which creditors accept a fixed sum.
A meeting at which creditors may present their claims against Straumur is set for 6 August. If agreement cannot be reached, the outlook for West Ham's new owner is stark – a winding-up committee, made up of three attorneys of Iceland's supreme court and independent of the Straumur executive, would be called into action.
"If composition proceedings are rejected, or the attempt to seek a composition is unsuccessful, the winding-up committee will request that the district court place Straumur's estate in bankruptcy proceedings," said the presentation to creditors. "A liquidator would then be appointed by the district court." Straumur's confidential statements to its creditors on Friday would seem to be at odds with claims it made in public yesterday.
"CB Holding fully supports the executive management of the club and acknowledges the considerable progress achieved this season both by Scott Duxbury, chief executive of West Ham, and the club's manager, Gianfranco Zola," said a statement. "CB Holding has no intention of changing the executive management or direction of the club."
If Straumur fails to reach agreement with creditors or to persuade the courts to extend the moratorium, it will present a severe test for the Premier League's rules governing fit and proper persons. Under those regulations directors and significant shareholders cannot have been made bankrupt. They are currently designed for individuals but, in the event that a club's controlling shareholder is a bankrupt company, the league's board would examine it.
The league confirmed it has asked West Ham to provide documentation. "We have asked West Ham to produce details of the change of ownership," said a spokesman. "Once we have that information we will assess it and, if needs be, act accordingly."
Even if Straumur's plans pass muster with the courts, creditors and league, there will be no return to the liberal spending of Gudmundsson. According to its presentation to creditors Straumur will now rely on "the establishment of a new and simplified business model appropriate to the reduced activities and scale of Straumur's operations as an asset management business".
Company gets shirty
Its ownership of West Ham United might prove to be short-lived but Straumur at least knows what the club's fans hold dear. CB Holding is not a reference to the citizen-band radio beloved of truckers but rather the colour of the club shirt: CB stands for claret and blue.
Charity pays price
The Football Association has warned its fellow Football Foundation stakeholders of its proposal to cut 20% from its £15m-a-year contribution to the grassroots sport charity. The FA is known to be in the midst of a wholesale review of its expenditure as it wrestles with the impact of the expected collapse of one of its main broadcast partners, Setanta, whose deal to cover England and FA Cup matches is worth almost £44m a year. The news will cast new light on the appropriateness of the hugely unpopular switch of its headquarters to Wembley in August. Not only has it alienated staff but also – because no tenant is willing to take up the £2m-a-year rent on the current Soho Square headquarters – critics will make the link that grassroots football is being asked to fund the vanity move....
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/09/west-ham-takeover-collapse-iceland-digger
David Conn/The Guardian -Liverpool pay US owners millions in expenses• Tom Hicks and George Gillett claim nearly £2m in 18 months
• Supporters angry as club pays for travel and legal costs
Liverpool are being made to pay almost £2m to cover the travel, legal and other personal expenses of the club's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The accounts published for the owners' holding company, Kop Football, for the year to 31 July 2008, show that Hicks charged £192,000 for "third party consulting, travel and other expenses," while Gillett charged £129,000 for "reimbursable travel, legal, personnel and other expenses".
The two men charged significant amounts of money for the same expenses, incurred by themselves personally "and affiliated companies", during the previous seven-month accounting period, which ran from 18 December 2006 to 31 July 2007, too. Hicks charged Kop £198,000, while Gillett charged £375,000.
The pair also claimed almost £1m for what are described in the accounts as "transaction-related expenses". Hicks and affiliated companies charged Kop £133,000 in this category, while Gillett's figure was much higher: £823,000. The total charged to Kop in expenses, for the owners and their affiliated companies, in 18 months from their takeover in early February 2007 to the accounts' end date of 31 July 2008, was £1.85m.
The accounts do not explain in further detail what "consulting, travel, legal, personnel and other expenses" were, or which were regarded as "reimbursable", and Hicks and Gillett were not available to respond with details yesterday. Nor was there any explanation of what constituted "transaction-related expenses". However, the only substantial transaction from December 2006 to July 2007 was the pair's takeover of the club itself. They borrowed £185m from the Royal Bank of Scotland to buy Liverpool in February 2007, and the club has been made responsible for paying the interest on that loan. Now it seems the club has also been made to pay for the pair's costs of doing the deal.
The accounts, published last week, showed that Kop owed a total of £313m to the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia in January this year, and that £36.8m was payable in interest last year. Kop's only asset is Liverpool Football Club so the interest, and the reimbursement of expenses, have to come from the club's income, made from television, supporters paying to watch matches, and other commercial earnings. Hicks and Gillett did loan Kop £58.2m from their holding company in the Cayman Islands last year.
Not all the expenses claimed had been paid by July 2008. The accounts state that of the £523,000 charged by Hicks and his affiliates, £188,000 was still owed, which meant he had been paid £335,000 by Liverpool. Of the £1.327m Gillett claimed for his expenses, £255,000 was outstanding, so Liverpool had paid him £1.072m.
The revelation about the expenses has further incensed supporters' groups who have campaigned for Hicks and Gillett to sell up and leave. The groups accuse the pair of breaking their promise not to make the club pay for their own borrowings to take it over, as the Glazer family did at Manchester United. Liverpool was sold because the previous chairman, David Moores, and chief executive, Rick Parry, believed the club needed wealthy backers to build the long-planned new stadium on Stanley Park, yet the North American pair have not found the finance.
James McKenna, spokesman for the Spirit of Shankly fans' group, said: "Hicks and Gillett were the multimillionaires who promised not to do a Glazer and that work would start on the new stadium within 60 days. Yet now we find, as fans, not only are we paying for their takeover, but we are also paying for their costs of having done it, and, for coming over to visit the football club. They were supposed to bring investment to take the club forward, but it turns out we're even paying their travel costs."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/08/liverpool-tom-hicks-george-gillet
Guardian
Newcastle's online 'for sale' statement sparks joke bidding war• Email address inundated with prank offers for Newcastle
• Mike Ashley took unusual step of advertising on club website
Newcastle United have been inundated with joke offers after Mike Ashley invited anyone interested in buying the club to make contact via email.
Supporters of Newcastle's local rivals, Sunderland, took particular delight in responding to a statement on the relegated club's website which said that potential purchasers could go through the unusual process of emailing admin@nufc.co.uk.
The statement emphasised that £100m is the asking price sought by Ashley, the Newcastle owner. It also said that contact could be made via Keith Harris, chairman of investment bankers Seymour Pierce, who has been seeking a buyer.
But the invitation to email Newcastle with prank offers proved irresistible to many rival supporters. One Sunderland fan bid 10p and another wrote: "I would like to lodge an official bid to buy NUFC. The amount I am offering is £10. Should I be successful I will be appointing myself as team manager, as I am currently in a management role in the Peterlee Sunday League."
Ashley has slashed his asking price for Newcastle as he attempts to secure the sale of the club he bought in 2007. The full statement on the club's website yesterday read: "The board of Newcastle United can today confirm that the club is for sale at the price of £100million.
"Interested parties should contact Newcastle United at admin@nufc.co.uk (or Keith Harris at Seymour Pierce) for further details. The club will not be making any further comment at the present time."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/09/newcastle-sale-email-address-jokes