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The Information Vacuum
Monday should see the latest announcement from Birmingham International Holdings about the ongoing process to sell a stake in the holding company to an as yet unnamed bidder.
Receivers Ernst and Young confirmed that they would update the stock market on a monthly basis at minimum until either the deal was complete or negotiations were to be terminated – as per the transfer code – and Monday marks one month since the last announcement on May 8.
As with any situation where there is a vacuum of information, people have projected both their hopes and fears onto the announcement. The optimists of the Blues world have united in the belief that this will be the announcement where we’ll get to know who’s behind the bid and what their plans are for the club while the pessimists seem to be unanimous that the statement will be ambiguous, with no content or meaning if it even is released at all.
The truth will probably lie somewhere between those two polar opposites. I’ll be the first to admit that I have no idea what will be announced – although I will hazard a couple of guesses. First of all, I think EY will need to make mention of negotiations progressing – and while I’m unsure they’ll name the actual bidder (I’ve only assumed it’s Trillion Trophy Asia Ltd due to the mass of circumstantial evidence and hearsay) and who is behind it, it is possible that they will have to.
Secondly, I think there will have to be some progress on the loan facility agreed to help prop up the company as EY need that in place to ensure the suspension of trading in shares of BIH can be lifted and I suspect we’ll hear more on the mechanics of how that will work. Finally, I hope we’ll see something relating to ongoing investigations into BIH’s affairs and the legal threats that have been made against them by various parties so we’ve got a more up to date picture as to what is happening with Pannu, Carson et al.
I know for a fact (having been told by a few people) that staff at BIH – including people at the top – read these pages and as such I want to take this opportunity to urge those people that while I understand there are rules about confidentiality it would help us on this side of the world to understand their continuing role if more information was made available.
The announcement should be made by close of business tomorrow – which is 11pm HKT (which works out to be 5pm here in Poland or 4pm in the UK). If you want to monitor when it comes out for yourself you can go to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange news ticker here.
Once news is announced I’ll update the site with a link for those of you who want it and my first analysis of what it all means. Til then, we’ll have to wait and see.
Tags: BIH, Carson Yeung, Ernst and Young, Peter Pannu, The Takeover
22 Responses to “The Information Vacuum”
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Hope EY announcement a in house buy back of shares, with a line of credit in place, my even have a date to float shares again, as for who is behind the credit loan or buy back, its best for getting rid of CY. if you don’t know who it is. As if its a bid company, who would sell, At this stage most small investors would sell, a date to re float would also be put pressure on CY. As long as it’s not some one wanting to get control of Blues on the cheap, Announcement should give us a ideal of how close to take over is.
I have no inside info, but do wonder if, when the details are announced, these new investors are people with former ties to BIH. Not friends of CY of PP, but wouldn’t be surprised if PP2 continues to be involved in the club.
Myself I’m not expecting too much information..just a “going through the motions “announcement too many people playing with cards close to the chest at the moment so am expecting diddlysquat…….that way I’m not disappointed
Will new major share holders have to pass the fit and proper test Dan , and are the blues trust and football league watching from the wings in defence of this club of ours , and surely if the ground is held as insurance against the loan we will know who the new owners are , I get the feeling Dan that for the near future once again you will be our candle in the dark . kro
I’m an optomist I feel although we are not getting a lot of information at the moment. We are at least getting some by a professional outfit such as E&y who are doing things by the book! We are in a much better position than we have been in recent years. We no longer have to listen to the crazy ramblings and blatant lies from pp and Carson is failing in every appeal he enters. For me this is progress and brings me much comfort to say the least. We also have an astute manager in gr who has a different approach in regards to transfer dealings opposed to Lc scatter gun approach. I’ve heard a lot of people say on here that Lc should get credit for the good players he signed I feel he signed a lot of dud players too to balance it out. GR is keeping his cards close to his chest till he gets the deals over the line and I completely trust him to deliver the goods based solely on his acquisitions last season, he brought in the quality we needed to finish tenth. Couple this with the fact we are being told blues have a little bit more cash to use in the transfer market and gr has trimmed the fat off the current squad to allow more to be used to maybe higher the wage cap in order to bring in the quality we need to push for the playoffs. I’m looking forward to the new season I can not see why blues can’t kick on Burnley did it and Ipswich also came close operating on a similar budget to what blues have. The key is a good manager and both them teams are blessed with that. I feel we are blessed with the same and I’m sure we will have a highly competitive squad by the seasons start.
I was looking at the Blues channel on youtube the other day with the proposed new main stand set up in 2011 and what a fantastic video to look at, it is still a pipe dream but something new investors need to follow up.
Tomorrow will tell us a lot as to the current situation. With new fixtures out in a weeks time and season tickets up for grabs, I will be looking for a real optimistic statement. No better time to sell to us punters and die-hard fans. Heaven forbid if we get a watered down,weak,uninformed few sentences then that will be enough for me to assess. Here’s hoping we are all jumping for joy by this time tomorrow!
What we need is:
1. Partial sale of the club to investors.
2. Clear financial strategy in place
3. A decision one way or another on Carson’s appeal
4. E&Y to state a date when they will have finished their receivership activity.
5. A tentative statement of future growth be it investment in the players or stadium.
I emailed Dan a few weeks ago a link to a BIrmingham Post article about Chinese investors looking to invest in projects in Birmingham. I wasn’t suggesting those investors had any interest in Birmingham City, but may point was that there is serious money slushing around the country and it would be great to have a sniff of it.
Forget any positive news, lets all be honest we know its going to be a long drawn out affair and I cannot see tomorrow bringing any good news at all, just the normal bull that we have been supplied with for the past 3 months as well as a number of years.
At present we aren’t going anywhere and just need to be realistic and accept where we are and having to put up with below average signings to see us through another woeful season until we get our wish(come on wheel out Robinson for another calamity, good help our U21’s!)
Hey, how about waiting for WBA to be sold and ask Uncle Jeremy Peace to buy us and transform Blues like he successfully has done at The Hawthorns…British owners now wouldn’t that be nice!
Uncle Jeremy Peace! OMG, sounds like heaven after this ongoing CY nightmare! KRO.
you need to get a life son. your all doom and gloom/ we finished 10th last season with mostly average players. GR going to inject some more quality into the squad this year so we should be challenging for a higher position maybe getting into the playoffs!
Blimey
Do you want some valium or would you prefer a razorblade?
Cutting Remarks Almajir !
Im afraid E and Y will be doing the minimum at this stage to be compliant.the fees will mount up but Hong Kong financial reporting has become more and more onerous.In a nasty case like this with litigious vipers waiting at every twist and turn you cant blame E and Y for taking a very cautious approach-much as it is frustrating for us.Im intrigued to see if they mention any new litigation or claims-perhaps from our old mate P Pannu? If Pannu did have contracts in place and they were broken much as it grieves me to say it,he may well have a case in a court of law.Its a Monday and Ive got a shocking hangover but Im afraid its looking like the end of 2016 for all this mess to be sorted out.Its nearly summer holiday time again so judges and lawyers will be off on their hols,back for a bit and then its Christmas and on and on.
I agree Swiss – the big question is what’s happening with Pannu – I’ve heard mention he may be going forwards with legal action but until it’s confirmed we can’s assume anything.
It’s very frustrating all of this waiting for information all of the time, why do EY or anyone connected with BCFC leave it to the very last minute to make an announcement, why can they not give multiple announcements even if its only nothing to announce but we are still making progress, at least we as fans will not moan about being kept in the dark and believe that we are valued as supporters. Looking forward to hearing any news be it good / bad or indifferent. Kro.
Because it’s not about us – their duty is to the shareholders and the Stock Exchange. Sad but true
I am not talking of duty or correct proceures just respect and civil courtesy. Kro
I keep checking but nothing issued on the HK website as yet. Is this a breach of HK Exchange rules or just a broken commitment?
It’s up now… I did say before 4pm BST ;)
You did but I got smart and didn’t think the HKSE would make an announcement at something like 10 o’clock at night! Seems they work late in the orient!
As I said Preston Bob – they have until 4pm BST to make the announcement – as they often have done in the past.