Interesting update posted on Conway Out FB page

I agree that I'd expect them to have an unrealistic valuation of the club in terms of their willingness to sell. Given how badly they've devalued the club in their tenure so far I doubt that any astute consortium looking to take over would meet it. Personally, I abhor the thought of them making a profit on their investment if they sold the club in its current state, but if someone's willing to pay the asking price then it would at least ensure we saw the back of them.

They're going to hit a crunch point sooner or later, especially with relegation looming, where their no investment operating policy is going to see cash resources dry up, which will test whether or not they're in this for the long haul as the production line of profitable player assets hasn't materialised in the way they expected, and we appear to have a small number of prize assets at present who are significantly devalued from where they were last season. My fear is that they'll set up some punitive loan arrangement, along the lines of the Nice model, which will end up being a millstone around the club's neck. Ultimately, one way or another, I anticipate that we'll end up in administration again under their tenure, either because they don't put resources in when they dry up or that the financing arrangement they make eventually cripples us.

In terms of your comments on the purchase just being for 80%, I don't think this will be the hurdle that you anticipate. The Cryne family share is via a 20% holding in the investment company, which is the single shareholder of BFC. Any negotiation would logically be for 100% of the share capital from this shareholder, and it wouldn't make sense for there to be a partial share sale, which would result in all the existing consortium members retaining a reduced interest in the club in the same proportions as now, as a minority shareholder of BFC. In reality, any desire for the Cryne's to retain an involvement would be via the new ownership model and would be something that they'd have to negotiate as part of the sale agreement. This, at least, is one potential barrier to a sale agreement that has been avoided, compared to a direct 80:20 shareholding in BFC.

 

I just had a thought.

I don't know if it's changed, but it used to be mandatory to have a physical Hong Kong location for your office and PO Box addresses weren't allowed. I have a feeling there used to be a big deal of the company secretary needing to be "local" too. You might be able to get around those with the more sophisticated VO set ups now and maybe a local accountant could fulfil the company secretarial role.

I'm also mindful of the increasing reach from China into HK and how that jurisdiction could potentially be affected in due course as relations with China and the West, the UK included sours further.

It may be an unintended consequence that the craven opacity of having the ownership vehicle in HK could become an extra barrier for a UK consortium to take over in due course.

 

Better get on with it quickly then!

 

There are a lot of increasing risks to the current ownership model. Covid has limited income. Im sure sponsorship is harder to come by due to the Covid too. But right now we face relegation with an estimated 6M reduction in income. I suspect there will be clauses in contracts for relegation which my help on costs but also may give opportunities for players to leave on the cheap. Finally the potential exodus of fans seem to be increasing and especially with relegation will be a hit. If the club, as the owners have stated, is run on self generated income, then player sales and reduced spend on players in seems the most likely scenario over the next 12 months.

 

Just a small point on a potential purchase of the 80%. It could be a share sale by Conway et al in BFC investments with Cryne junior retaining, adding to or selling his 20%.

 

I'm going to need more popcorn.

 

@Red Rain found their registered location on Google maps.

 

For anyone who wants to know the registered office and shareholders, here’s a screen shot of the details.

 

So this was 6 months before it was publicly announced at the press conference on 19th December
not sure if that is interesting or not ?
Could they still be arguing about the price as the agent for the deal said they were doing after this date or was it already set in stone