It was £3.4m that Bartlett borrowed from RBS to buy the SMC, the SMC only had a total book value of just over £4m.
2 sets of leases then. Council to SMC & SMC to the clubs. The Hull FC & city defo have leases in place
There'll obviously be some sort of agreement in place, but nobody seems to know what that agreement is (other than the clubs themselves) and there must be some significant variables in there, as the SMC were charging Hull FC daft money to stage games last season.
There is no chance the Allams will keep the SMC. The SMC owe Hull City AFC over £18 million. If I was buying the club and the Allams kept the SMC I'd insist that came off the asking price and a new rental agreement be put in place before I signed the deal. If I bought the club without them agreeing I'd put the SMC into liquidation and get rid of the Allams involvement overnight. Once the liquidator had disclaimed the lease I'd negotiate a new lease with the Council.
I am involved in a case where an insolvent company has a commercial lease on a unit that ends next quarter day. The business park it is in has a tenant owned company that operates the whole site. What appears as a simple arrangement is bleeding complex. So whatever the SMC has in place it will be a nightmare. Welcome back mate.
The liquidator would disclaim the lease between Hull City Council and the SMC as he or she would be responsible for fixing the roof and doing all the repairs with an income of under £2 million a year. Once the lease was disclaimed the contracts between Hull FC and Hull City AFC would be void. Seems like a lot of unnecessary fuss and ill feeling when all Assem Allam wants is to be rid of the club for as much money as he can get.
I agree that now the SMC has been loaded with debt it acts against them to keep it whilst selling Hull City. However as Hull city and the SMC are two separate businesses the buyer of Hull City would have no way to put the SMC into liquidation. It's complicated alright.
The SMC owe Hull City AFC £18 million, payable on demand. Hull City AFC ask for payment in full, if its not paid they issue a statutory demand for the money. If that's not paid they issue a winding-up petition and if that's not paid the Court makes the order. The income of the SMC is less than £2 million a year so the Allams would have to loan money to the SMC in order for it to repay the debt otherwise its an easy liquidation.
Any deal to buy the club will also include a resolution of any issues with regard to the SMC, or there wouldn’t be a deal at all. The club and SMC will almost certainly be sold together with all debt written off, I don’t buy the Allam wanting to keep the SMC rumour.
This is just my personal opinion...... But I think Assam is at the point In his life where he just wants to start to wind down and step back from working life and enjoy the time he has left with friends and family etc and who can blame him really.
Understandable ... but why on earth did he decide to start attending games again, and for a sport he doesn't particularly like (nor understand).
