Post by QPR Report on Sept 25, 2009 6:41:21 GMT
Guardian
Man behind Notts County deal has £2m assets frozen by Jersey courts• Action taken over debts of Qadbak representative Russell King
• Sven-Goran Eriksson promised fortune in company yet to float
Matt Scott guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 September 2009 22.46
Russell King, a senior representative of Qadbak, the offshore company that owns Notts County, has had £1.9m of his assets frozen by the courts in Jersey over an unpaid debt. King emerged as a key figure at the heart of a web of companies connected with the Notts County takeover.
As well as leading negotiations with the supporters' trust over the purchase of the club by the investment vehicle Qadbak in July, and the appointment of Peter Trembling as chief executive, King and his business associate, Nathan Willett, were involved with Sven-Goran Eriksson's recruitment to Meadow Lane as director of football. The actual owners of the club have never been revealed and Eriksson admitted yesterday that he had never met them.
In a separate development it emerged that Eriksson had been promised a paper fortune by Willett and his father, Peter, who is a director of Notts County, if he worked on a separate company of which they are the sole directors.
The former England manager was handed a substantial shareholding in a Zurich-registered company called Swiss Commodity Holding AG, whose directors are the Willetts. Like Sol Campbell, who quit the club on Tuesday, Eriksson was asked to work as an ambassador for the company's many interests overseas.
Eriksson was assured that when the company, which describes itself on its website as a multinational with "a total portfolio value in excess of 160 billion swiss francs (£97bn) [focusing] on natural resources, infrastructure and industry", is floated on the stock market, his stock would be worth millions overnight.
Eriksson insists privately that he was already excited about joining the club for its "project" and that the promises of riches were simply an added attraction. He is currently working to a contract with the club's holding company, Blenheim 1862, which pays him a salary that is above the market rate for a League Two director of football but a lot less than his usual salary.
However, it is understood that he was initially assured Swiss Commodity Holding AG would be floated on the stock market in an initial public offering within three or four weeks of his agreeing to join the club in June. That has not yet happened, although there are fresh assurances it will take place before the end of next month.
King's difficulties happened when Close Finance, a Channel Islands-based company, had problems with an unpaid loan. It brought the injunction because Close Finance thought King had left Jersey.
On Wednesday King's lawyer admitted to the Guardian the existence of a judgment relating to a £1.9m fraud, but said it "did not relate directly" to him. When asked yesterday to explain how it did relate to him, there was no response.
Courts in Jersey were also given evidence that King was connected with Belgravia, the company that once tried to buy Newcastle United. The judgment gave weight to an affidavit that connected King to Belgravia.
"Mr Gouldson's third affidavit showing RK Holdings Limited as owning 50% of BG International Holdings Limited, which in turn owned 90% of Belgravia.
"The defendant has provided personal guarantees for certain borrowings by Belgravia."
One of Belgravia's subsidiaries is the subject of a criminal investigation in Jersey. King's lawyers have confirmed that King acted as a spokesman for Belgravia, which collapsed last year, but deny he had any formal connection with the group.
"Mr King's family was a declared investor in Belgravia and consider that it is owed a substantial amount of money," said a spokesman. "But Mr King never worked for nor was a director of BFSG, which is the entity being investigated, and would like to put on the record that it was he who called in City of London Police."
King was also part of an attempt, led by Belgravia, to found a Dubai-based F1 team. And he described himself as an "adviser" to Qadbak during the recent transfer of BMW's assets in the Sauber motor racing team.
A spokesman for King said that he had also been an adviser to Notts County – whose marquee signing, Sol Campbell, has left the club after playing in just one game – on strategic and media issues but claimed he had relinquished that role this week as a new communications manager, Sky Sports' Matt Lorenzo, had been appointed.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/24/russell-king-notts-county-qadbak
Man behind Notts County deal has £2m assets frozen by Jersey courts• Action taken over debts of Qadbak representative Russell King
• Sven-Goran Eriksson promised fortune in company yet to float
Matt Scott guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 September 2009 22.46
Russell King, a senior representative of Qadbak, the offshore company that owns Notts County, has had £1.9m of his assets frozen by the courts in Jersey over an unpaid debt. King emerged as a key figure at the heart of a web of companies connected with the Notts County takeover.
As well as leading negotiations with the supporters' trust over the purchase of the club by the investment vehicle Qadbak in July, and the appointment of Peter Trembling as chief executive, King and his business associate, Nathan Willett, were involved with Sven-Goran Eriksson's recruitment to Meadow Lane as director of football. The actual owners of the club have never been revealed and Eriksson admitted yesterday that he had never met them.
In a separate development it emerged that Eriksson had been promised a paper fortune by Willett and his father, Peter, who is a director of Notts County, if he worked on a separate company of which they are the sole directors.
The former England manager was handed a substantial shareholding in a Zurich-registered company called Swiss Commodity Holding AG, whose directors are the Willetts. Like Sol Campbell, who quit the club on Tuesday, Eriksson was asked to work as an ambassador for the company's many interests overseas.
Eriksson was assured that when the company, which describes itself on its website as a multinational with "a total portfolio value in excess of 160 billion swiss francs (£97bn) [focusing] on natural resources, infrastructure and industry", is floated on the stock market, his stock would be worth millions overnight.
Eriksson insists privately that he was already excited about joining the club for its "project" and that the promises of riches were simply an added attraction. He is currently working to a contract with the club's holding company, Blenheim 1862, which pays him a salary that is above the market rate for a League Two director of football but a lot less than his usual salary.
However, it is understood that he was initially assured Swiss Commodity Holding AG would be floated on the stock market in an initial public offering within three or four weeks of his agreeing to join the club in June. That has not yet happened, although there are fresh assurances it will take place before the end of next month.
King's difficulties happened when Close Finance, a Channel Islands-based company, had problems with an unpaid loan. It brought the injunction because Close Finance thought King had left Jersey.
On Wednesday King's lawyer admitted to the Guardian the existence of a judgment relating to a £1.9m fraud, but said it "did not relate directly" to him. When asked yesterday to explain how it did relate to him, there was no response.
Courts in Jersey were also given evidence that King was connected with Belgravia, the company that once tried to buy Newcastle United. The judgment gave weight to an affidavit that connected King to Belgravia.
"Mr Gouldson's third affidavit showing RK Holdings Limited as owning 50% of BG International Holdings Limited, which in turn owned 90% of Belgravia.
"The defendant has provided personal guarantees for certain borrowings by Belgravia."
One of Belgravia's subsidiaries is the subject of a criminal investigation in Jersey. King's lawyers have confirmed that King acted as a spokesman for Belgravia, which collapsed last year, but deny he had any formal connection with the group.
"Mr King's family was a declared investor in Belgravia and consider that it is owed a substantial amount of money," said a spokesman. "But Mr King never worked for nor was a director of BFSG, which is the entity being investigated, and would like to put on the record that it was he who called in City of London Police."
King was also part of an attempt, led by Belgravia, to found a Dubai-based F1 team. And he described himself as an "adviser" to Qadbak during the recent transfer of BMW's assets in the Sauber motor racing team.
A spokesman for King said that he had also been an adviser to Notts County – whose marquee signing, Sol Campbell, has left the club after playing in just one game – on strategic and media issues but claimed he had relinquished that role this week as a new communications manager, Sky Sports' Matt Lorenzo, had been appointed.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/24/russell-king-notts-county-qadbak
