BFC Investment Company Annual Return 2023

Have you wiped it ?

 

At the August fans forum Neerav mentioned that a further £3.5m investment had been agreed. A share issue for £2,419,722 has recently taken place and been registered in Hong Kong in the last week or two.

A whopping 60,493,050 new shares in BFC Investment Company have been issued at an almost worthless 4p each, raising £2,419,722.

The main feature of this particular allotment of shares is that it has only been participated in by the 'active' owners, Neerav, JAQ and the Crynes:-

Neerav Parekh (Abhajay Investments) has taken 34,679,230 of the new shares ('A' shares) for £1,387,169

Julie Anne Quay (Jamakepe Investments) has taken 6,645,357 of the new shares ('A' shares) for £265,814

The Crynes (Oakwell Holdings) have taken 19,168,463 of the new shares ('B' shares) for £766,739

The allocations taken by Neerav, JAQ and the Crynes are in proportion to their shareholdings prior to this one as a percentage of £3.5m. Chien Lee and PMG have not taken up their allocations, which would have brought the sum to £3.5m. (I'm guessing that the full £3.5m probably isn't needed yet anyway following the Kitching transfer).

With this current share issue it would seem that Neerav now holds more than half of the 'A' shares in BFC Investment Company and therefore can control the majority of appointments to its Board.

 

Thanks for this Exile.

 

This allocation looks to result in a massive dilution of Lee and PMG's holding and hence any real lingering influence.

If I've pressed the right buttons on my calculator given the big numbers involved now - the resultant shareholdings are currently:-

A Shares

Neerav Parekh (Abhajay) 57,798,717 shares which is 47.97% of the company and 65.28% of the A shares

Julie Anne Quay (Jamakepe) 11,075,595 shares which is 9.20% of the company and 12.51% of the A shares

Chien Lee 13,800,000 shares which is now just 11.45% of the company and 15.58% of the A shares

Pacific Media Group 5,871,300 shares which is now just 4.87% of the company and 6.63% of the A shares

B Shares

Oakwell Holdings Limited (Crynes) 31,947,938 shares which is 26.51% of the company

 

Do PMG and Lee still have time to take up their share or have they now lost out on that investment?

 

Good.

 

I dont really understand things like share issues.
What is the need to issue shares when we have funds in the bank from transfers,and are these issues classed as emergency to fund the club moving forward?

 

I imagine the running costs of the club in league 1 are far highger than the income, hence the need for transfer fees and share issues. I wouldn't be surprised if part of it was to dilute Conway/Lee though as well.

 

What I still dont understand is that if they know Conway and lee won't invest any further then why can't they issue another 100,000,000 shares. All invest say 5 million quid each and take over the remaining shares that Conway and lee own.

And then as soon as they're out just take dividends of 5 million quid each back out of the club meaning they've taken the con ways shares for nowt.

I assume that's bit legal but why not? Is there some specific rule that prevents it?

 

It's a good question and one I don't know the answer to!

 

Why though? They're already well in control.

 

No particular reason, I was more just curious about why they can't if they wanted to.

I've absolutely no idea what that is but it sounds technically named enough for me to just not my head and smile
I did figure there must be a law but then sometimes I'm surprised to find there's no law preventing something so thought I'd ask

 

I don't understand why they undertake this extra investment (if that is what it is) while systematically devaluing the squad at every transfer window. There has been no progress since 2017, so what is it all about? In what other business would you invest millions to tread water?

 

thanks for the update exile and thanks so much for taking your time out to help us understand all this.
v much appreciated.

 

Dividends are subject to Tax - so it would actually cost them quite a bit. Almost £2m in tax at 33%.

So that’s not the best way of doing it.

Possibly a Directors Loan into the company, for the company to buy the shares - but not sure if that’s workable/permitted.

 

The football league is littered with clubs who are no better off than they were six years ago. Who lead a yo yo existence never really getting anywhere. You could ask the same about their Boards pumping money in to a much greater tune than ours. There's little logic in football finance.

 

Conway & Lee's holdings have already been diluted by share issues. They will take a big hit. That is one thing I'm glad about. The former ruined our club. If they sell up, it will be at a loss. Goodbye & good riddance. The investigations into the club may lead to other sanctions against them, but we'll await the verdict on that.

I think the current board are turning things around, in difficult circumstances. We've become more a L1 club than a Championship one, as a result of Conway's actions. It may take 5 years to reverse that.

 

Well, it does look like we should thanking Neerav and JAQ and the Crynes. I looks like they are pressing on towards getting shut of the rotten apples....