Majority of my friends are mags , it really is hard to swallow And now sd making noises again about wanting to stay couldn't get any worst I'm sure smug mentioned months ago Donald will become our Ashley!!
Sunderland Echo . . Tomorrow is the first day that FPP Sunderland Limited - the company set-up by Glenn Fuhrman, Robert Platek and John Phelan - can legally dissolve. What does it mean for an American takeover? While it's understood this company was established to facilitate a takeover of the club, the vessel being dissolved doesn't mean one of the trio - or indeed all three - could not buy the Black Cats in the future. It just means any future investment or share purchases would be done as personal investments rather than via this company. What does it mean for the £10m loan? This loan still needs to be repaid and, as FPP Sunderland remain a registered company in Delaware, little will change on that front. As long as that loan is there I will have hope!
"While it's understood this company was established to facilitate a takeover." I'd be interested to know what other reason there could've been. I find it staggering that there are people who, with no information whatsoever, insist there was never any intention for FPP to take over the club.
The takeover was obviously very very close to being complete. To think otherwise is madness. The company they set up, quite happy to be seen in the SOL as pictured in the Echo, in Donald's own words at talk in he hoped the Americans would keep him onboard, podcast SD also did with Roker Report, leaked info to fanzines about Dell. We could go on and on Like you have pointed out many times, the money they have already pumped into it all. Not a chance they suddenly had cold feet. The deal was changed and not by the Americans. I only hope they really are still interested. Knowing our luck it is very doubtful.
They would have to do DD to agree a convertible loan though. They needed a fair price for the shares they would acquire if they converted.
Spot on this, at the moment we have no hope in sight and Donald will only take us one way, even our usual gallows humour is wearing thin now, the apathy and acceptance of where we are from a lot of supporters show how the last few years have taken their toll
On the flip side you don't need to register a company at the address of the business you're loaning money to ... ... no matter what that loan may be.
They don't need to register a UK company at all to do any of this, but it neatly keeps all uk activity together for them as non-residents. As for using the SOL, it is meaningless. They could buy the club with a company registered in John o' Groats and it would make not a blind bit of difference, but a more practical idea for people who only have a collective interest in the UK is to register it at the SOL, have all of the companies house and other paperwork sent to SAFC and forwarded on as necessary. I don't see it as a big statement of intent, neither that nor the due diligence would be unusual for the type of deal they did, given where they come from and how little pre-existing infrastructure was in place to keep everything together for 3 separate people involved in a project here. Everything about it screams temporary vehicle for convenience (including shutting it down), and if anyone thinks they were somehow convinced to do a deal they didn't want to do because they didn't' agree with Donald's valuation, they are on another planet or they're not the owners we want
The 'meaning' is that the current owner allowed people from outside of the club to do it ... ... something I've never seen happen before. He did that for one reason only imo. Sorry but the idea that billionaires, with solicitors in the UK, would use the SOL as a PO Box is just daft. " a more practical idea for people who only have a collective interest in the UK is to register it at the SOL, have all of the companies house and other paperwork sent to SAFC and forwarded on as necessary." Even apart from them not wanting SAFC privy to who's sending FPP mail it's the least practical idea.
I don't understand all the cloak and dagger, secrecy behind all of this, why SD cannot just be upfront and tell it how it is instead of stringing people along with different versions tailored to suit his own needs. He is making noises that he wants to stay and get FPP more involved, yet a few months ago Juan Sartori, was going to be heavily involved in the club, which is it? I think with what is happening up the road and if it goes through will be a final nail in the coffin for our a lot of our hardcore support and our numbers will dwindle massively.
Donald : I want £40m FPP; you bought it for £15m and replaced the seats, everything bar expenditure is worse. Donald: yeah, £40m FPP: ta ra then, call us when you’re desperate and we will give you £15m I think the that’s the exact type of owners we require at this moment. Unlike Donald I guess they know when they are being mugged off
That is exactly what I think would have happened if they'd have wanted to do it outright. But if they did, instead of walking away when Donald quoted a figure they disagreed with, you're saying that they came back and agreed to do a loan instead. I don't understand the logic. The most likely version of events is that FPP got everything they wanted from the deal, or they'd have walked away.
'something I've never seen happen before' One of my directors literally emailed me in the last 6 months and asked us to change the address they have listed for her on CH to our office address because it's easier and your own address/assets are not on public display as they have to be in the UK. So I have not only seen it happen, I've enacted it. It's not a 'PO Box', but why is it daft? You do realise the alternative is to register either an address they have access to, or a virtual office? Neither is as quick and easy as the SOL, then when you're done with it, nothing of yours is a matter of public record. And we know what football fans are like...
So absolutely nothing like this situation then .... .... "the current owner allowed people from outside of the club to do it."
