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TTA: No news on takeover but money is available
Birmingham International Holdings yesterday made an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that confirmed they were no closer to agreeing a takeover with Trillion Trophy Asia.
The announcement took the same form as recent updates, confirming negotiations were still ongoing. The next update is due December 30.
I’ve seen the cynicism abound once more (as it seems to flare up after update) about the length of time this whole process is taking, and it mystifies me. One thing I’ve always tried to make clear is that this will be a lengthy process, and I’ve said on multiple occasions I don’t think the stock will be relisted until the Chinese New Year (February 2016) at least with the change of ownership taking time after that.
Friday will mark the one year anniversary of the suspension of share trading (which occurred after Pannu made these comments on the OP website one year ago tomorrow). In that time it’s my belief that things at St Andrew’s have changed massively for the better; there is much better communication between the board level and the club has moved on from being on a helter-skelter trip to oblivion to one that is slowly rebuilding. While the sale process is taking a huge length of time, I believe that this is much to do with the toxicity surrounding BIH over the past few years and the length of time required to clean this up.
One thing that people need to take into account is what Gary Rowett said on Saturday – namely
“Panos Pavlakis went to Hong Kong the other week to meet the investors out there, TTA, and we got a really positive response from them.
There is money there for Rowett to spend on players in January – provided by TTA. Even if the takeover takes a while if they can help support him with cash for players, the wait isn’t a bad thing.
One announcement that has slipped by is that BIH are to hold their AGM on December 29. This is just a procedural thing – to re-elect board members, approve accounts along with a couple of resolutions but there are a couple of hypothetical questions I am trying to find answers to that raise interesting scenarios.
First of all, the big question is if Carson himself will attend. Now he’s out on bail he has every right to attend the AGM and I wonder if he will – and attempt to throw a spanner in the works by voting against the resolutions to allow BIH to have rights issues and repurchase shares. At this moment in time it’s been difficult to get hold of anyone connected with him to find out his intentions but I’d love to be a fly on the wall should Carson or Pannu (who holds 250,000 shares and thus is also entitled to attend) turn up.
Secondly, there is a resolution which states that it will permit the directors of BIH (who are of course the EY receivers) to repurchase shares in BIH. This is interesting as if they receive this mandate and exercise it in full, it would push Carson’s ownership in BIH up to 31% which would do two things. Firstly – by crossing the 30% threshold it would force Carson to make a mandatory offer for all shares or sell some of his own – in other words. Secondly, and more importantly it would make him an “owner” of BCFC with respect to the Owners and Directors test… and as he is currently disqualified from being an owner or director due to his conviction for money laundering, he would be forced to divest at least some of his holdings.
Whether any of this will happen is another thing – but it’s an interesting play that EY could make.
Tags: BIH, Carson Yeung, Ernst and Young, HKSE, Panos Pavlakis, Peter Pannu
54 Responses to “TTA: No news on takeover but money is available”
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this is going to carry on for a while longer. carson isnt going to let go of it that easy
Dan, if E&Y do make this play, wont CY just get an accomplice like PP1 to buy the extra shares?
Also isn’t the money TTA giving ius simply a loan that needs repaying?
yes to the second ques but the first: without shares being traded he might only have the option of selling back to BIHL under the buy back scheme but could he gift them to PP , i don’t know
As i enjoy my holiday with family in Western Australia and temperature today 28c i think the event of the past few years on and off the field would make a great Carry on Comedy –!0 pounds to the person with the best title-Dan can be the judge after consulting Peter Pan and Carson Bung the main actors maybe a new pantomine in the making. . I left after going to the Fulham game and even though we lost the next couple still a happy bluenose as long as GR and PP run the show on or off the field , no problems re an even better future KRO–i return next week to blightly –looking forward to the football not the weather.
I think we need to be careful about how we regard the TTA ‘investment’. They do not own BIHL and therefore do not own the club. The ‘investment’ being talked about is simply the loan drawdown facility that attracts interest at 8% per annum. As such, this is not so much an owner in waiting keen to invest in the club, more the case of a money man willing to lend BIHL more money, secured on St Andrews, at a commercial rate of interest. It will all need paying back at some point in some form or another.
Any facts to back up that statement?
Read the Hong Kong Stock Exchange announcement on TTA’s involvement and loan drawdown facility from a few months ago.
it’s been on here written by Dan several times.
The ground is now secured by TTA and BIHL have £13 million for running the business.
If we don’t repay the loan TTA WILL own the ground, so we have more debt and a whopping 8% interest to pay when rsates here are 4 or 5%.
You hit the nail on the thumb there, Walmsley Steve. It puts an emphasis on successful outcomes.
Steve you are absolutely right.Its really a secured bond deal with a coupon of 8 per cent. Its also very well secured! Like all bond type investments there comes a time when maturity is reached.This is presumably when their period of exclusivity expires on the second anniversary of the deal.To my mind TTA are business people.They are also clearly not adverse to a little risk provided that the potential upside is attractive.Surely they must now be thinking-blimey if we were to chuck 5 million at this situation then maybe Blues will go up and all of a sudden we have a cracking chance of selling a Prem team at Prem money.Now thats the upside.Remember that TTA really want to get the listing at a good price-that was their motivation.So if they get the listing sorted and something stuck into it or disposed of they have done a cracking deal.If they cant get the listing sorted,if we dont get promotion then they will be looking for their money back with interest.Now where does that leave us?
Exactly!
it may take us back to 2012/13, the club loaded with debt it can’t pay without selling players or the ground owned by a third party, who not having completed the purchase of the club will not give a jot about blues, just like the person who owned Portsmouth’s ground but didn’t own the club and look at the messs they ended up in.
every corner in this story has a twist, good and bad.
We knew this was gonna be a long drawn out affair. The part I don’t quite understand is if CY’s conviction is overturned what happens then regarding BCFC, BIH, & TTA, I can only imagine that it will get even more messy, and even if things do go in his favour does he have the money to run a football club?, & let’s face it he won’t exactly be welcomed back at St.Ans with open arms either.
I said a few weeks ago, that I wouldn’t be surprised if we started next season (2016-17) under the same ownership. It’s still looking that way.
I would be very surprised if this was sorted out by the january 2017 transfer window with all the court cases coming up next year, those things take time & then the possibility of appeals after.
Mate I was in HK last week and can tell you that the lawyers over there are very excited about this exact outcome.There are also a handful of other money laundering convictions that they fully expect to be quashed with huge amounts of costly litigation flying around.Regarding timing I was told that Carsens case is now set down for July with an expected 6-8 weeks for a written judgement.So mid September 2016 for this lot of legals to be sorted.If CY gets off-and remember that the Court of Final appeal has already overuled the Court of Appeal on CY’s bail application- then its a bumper year for the lawyers and a long period of nervous waiting for us.CY cannot appeal after this one by the way-its the Court of Final Appeal.It is what it says on the tin.
so we need E&Y to repurchase enough shares to out vote Yeung before or once shares are trading or we need to sell the club before his appeal in case he wins and becomes the major shreholder and could leagally be a director again.
just a question , if as we assume carson yeung is found NOT guilty , then surely he has the right to run bcfc ?, where does that leave ey & tta ?, and as regards people on here keep saying (he won`t be welcome back at stans ) , do you really think he is bothered ?, he will just send one of his so called friends to oversee everything . this is his baby , and he is not going to give up his custody for anybody . !! so all the good work that GR & EY &TTA have done so far , will all be for nothing ?. hopefully i am wrong in all this , and CY doesn`t get off ?, but with all the twists and turns we have had in this saga ?, you can not be sure of anything anymore .
Of course he does – and as I’ve said before that would be a gamechanger. I have no idea what would happen then.
The prospect of Carson becoming an “owner” again is worrying. The Football League can’t force him to sell any shares. Their sanction is to suspend the club. This is usually enough of a threat as it could lead to administration and the share value depreciating considerably. But the club is already in administration and the shares have depreciated considerably ………..
Mate the club is not in administration-its the holding company.
Neither the club or BIHL are in Administration. .
swissjonny: You are correct, of course, so I’ll rephrase: The prospect of Carson becoming an “owner” again is worrying. The Football League can’t force him to sell any shares. Their sanction is to suspend the club. This is usually enough of a threat as it could lead to administration FOR BCFC. THIS WOULD LEAD TO BIHL BEING IN ADMINISTRATION BECAUSE BIHL IS VIRTUALLY NOTHING BUT BCFC. THIS WOULD MEAN BIHL SHARE value depreciating considerably. But the club is already in administration and the shares have depreciated considerably. SO THE FA HAVE NO THREAT TO FORCE CARSON TO SELL SHARES.
zxcv: BIHL are in administration.
Oh bo**ox! still got it wrong, sorry :-(
The prospect of Carson becoming an “owner” again is worrying. The Football League can’t force him to sell any shares. Their sanction is to suspend the club. This is usually enough of a threat as it could lead to administration FOR BCFC. THIS WOULD LEAD TO BIHL BEING IN ADMINISTRATION TOO BECAUSE BIHL IS VIRTUALLY NOTHING BUT BCFC. THIS WOULD MEAN BIHL SHARE value depreciating considerably. But BIHL ARE already in administration and the shares have depreciated considerably. SO THE FA HAVE NO THREAT TO FORCE CARSON TO SELL SHARES.
I did not realise we were in administration, I thought we had receivers in .. Let’s deduct the 10 points then .. Only 18 points then , it’s another relegation fight like most fans expected .. Kro
Dave to be picky we have no one in mate the recovers were called in to bihl
It’s called being sarcastic mate , sense of humour and all that … Your hitting or the wrong notes again .. It’s receivers not recovers .. Come on zxcv !! Kro
And it’s all not or . Kro
Just correcting myself there mate . Kro
Your beyond help mate.LOL
So what is stopping Carson young getting an investor to loan him all the money for all the shares , and putting his own man running the club and so ending up as he started , with the Stan’s not now being an asset to the community, and then paying back the loan by later selling some of the shares off , but still being in sole control , somebody please tell me I am wrong , please tell me that this is not a pre arranged marriage again …..
Don’t need it mate , Ime more than capable of helping myself .. But there is someone I can think of who needs it ?? .. Keep taking the medicine . Kro
As i said jokingly it is a farce of a serious kind with so many potential endings, Morse Lewis , Poirot or Sherlock Holmes could not solve this one or Gypsy Rose Lee -pantomine springs to mind again, football longest running off the field saga rivals The Mouse Trap -lets us all be optimistic as Del Boy this time next year the Vile are relegated, we are in the Premiership top half, Carson Bung and Peter Pannu are serving time as pantomine villains ( very apt word villains ) and the new owners give GR bags of money plus Pavlos is running the entire show-the opposite is makes me s… myself, many more twists and plots to this one yet , better than East Enders , coronation Street and Emmerdale put together( i never watch them anyway ) KRO
I feel we are in a tense situation. Limbo for the next 2 years is reality. Continual loans by TTA @8% interest to roll over with Stans.already the guarantor. My own feeling is that TTA will never be our long term owners-just our current landlords taking a good rent. No disrespect to them for that. Only way that TTA would become our new owners in rapid time would be come next Easter our team was 10pts clear of third place with 3games to go.
We will have owners banging the door down wanting to buy us if that was the case Mitchell , certain premiership football next season would hopefully speed everything up but how would mr yeung be feeling , like friging manure hopefully . Kro
Birmingham City was a hot potato that Carson wanted to sell, at the right price of course, which he was never going to get. He will not be coming back.
If Yeung is “forced to divest some of his holdings”, would they be purchased by TTA or available for other shareholders
When the seller asks a ridiculous price and the buyer readily agrees in the case of CY- then something is very odd indeed. CY and Previous owners are the only people who understand why those events/negotiations took place. Both parties well and truly ‘miles away’ from it now. Two men who I would love to have a conversation with would be Bruce and McLeish. Good decent guys-who no doubt know the full story. Today’s latest news is sterile and condescending.
To think Bruce and McLeish would know anything I would say no way, managers are not party to the financial dealings of owners. The sole reason Yeung paid over the odds for BCFC is because it was probably money laundering , for which he was originally convicted. This is presumably the reason why he will not let go. It was not his money which purchased the club, their are people in Hong Kong who want their money back, if BCFC had stayed in the premiership for a few years these characters in Hong Kong would have received a nice dividend on their investment of possible dodgy money. Because BCFC got relegated they are not receiving this dividend, they want their money back, this is why Yeung is holding out , perhaps if and when he is released they may provide further money to try and get BCFC back in the premiership with its rich rewards. Unfortunately unless the receivers can convince Yeung to let go by perhaps having further evidence of dodgy dealings or some sort of other incentive , perhaps by way of future payments by way of dividends if BCFC can get back in the premiership, he is not going away , this could all change of course if his conviction is not overturned, which now according to Daniel is unlikely.
This takeover is an absolute joke all it is is one massive jolly for all the legal eagles out in Hong Kong creaming every last penny out of everything and not an end in sight to anything so many people have there head in the sand it’s unreal we haven’t a pot to piss regarding a proper budget for transfers to “actually compete” with the top 6,also the last 4 years have been the biggest waste of time and space as it now looks like Carson could get off,a joke from top to bottom as soon as the Chinese are out of this club the better bring the club back home to British owners that know about football and how it’s run….#yeungandpannuscumout.
Mickey
Why do owners have to be British? Why the xenophobia? Also, your rant means you lose credibility – despite things being explained to you on multiple occasions you keep going off on one.
no proper money! Looks like Four wasted years with the court as it looks like he’s going to get off (a joke) British owners?nothing wrong with saying that I would like my club run from Brum and not a idiots like pannu and yeung giving everyone the run around out there,you say they are not part of it at present but looks like to me they are still causing problems,head in sand fella.
I agree I would like my club ran from Birmingham but then I,am unashamedly xenophobic.
Hi, If by some miracle we got promoted. What would happen with the sale of the club?
An associate of E&Y will get a bargain..
The one hope that I am holding onto is the fact that Carson’s legal bills must be astronomical and he will need to pay them at some point. Whilst I realize that he has some influential friends I would imagine that some will be giving him a very wide berth. To that end it is my hope that he will need to raise capital to pay his legal teams and therefore may be forced to sell assets ie BCFC shares. I do agree with the majority on here that the ownership resolution is along way off but I remain optimistic due to the fact TTA would not sensibly make money available for squad improvement if they didn’t think there was a good possibility of seeing a return. KRO
I can see it happening so clear, BCFC promoted in playoffs Carson Yeung is aquitted of all wrong doing and takes the credit for our promotion.
Q1/ CY will need a majority vote to get E&Y removed as Directors. Will he get it?
Q2/ Didn’t a court say CY used BCFC as a cash machine? Would that have any bearing on him becoming a Director again?
Q3/ E&Y were replaced by CY then TTA might be able to and want to call in their loan. This would be very bad news all round
Julian,is the 8 per cent secured loan not repayable after 2 years -unless I guess a deal goes through.I may well be wrong on this but seem to remember in whats left of my brain that this was the case.
Fair enough SJ. I wasn’t aware of that
On a different subject does anyone know what has happened to Koby Arthur ? Is he injured ?
Doesn’t matter where the owners come from , but its obvious that E&Y have got their hands full with this new challenge ,let’s hope they are up to it .
Imagine the fees William!!
Said it before, will say it again. BCFC ain’t paying them.