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Gao Family Partnership (80% Stake)


JoeShmoe

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If I remember rightly Lander sport liked that we developed players and sold them.

 

As for the stadium expansion they really need to reduce ticket prices to fill the extra seats, I have always said if we charged 30 quid for crap teams and 35 for decent teams and ST were 500-520 we would get 38,000 easy for premier league games.

 

For me if they develop the stadium reduce ticket prices but carry on allowing the club to self efficient and sell and spend less and we finish top 10 I wont complain, sadly the Americans have the right approach to sport and ensure fair play with draft and salary caps in NFL and NBA, We will never be a top 4 club unless a few of us have kids that become world class and we make them stay loyal.

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Well, we're on board with a person with experience in property development and sporting retail... let's hope the only development is of the stadium into a better stadium and the retail gets the club shedloads of shirt money.

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I don't know what Samuel is talking about. FFP has not ended (or if it has, the news coverage of the ending has been remarkably muted). And Everton has not accomplished anything yet. He makes it sound like Everton has locked up regular appearances in the Champions League. Samuel has always hated FFP for good reason, but this article seems to leave reason behind so that he can assert as true what he wants to be true.

 

Nothing to do with the above post Redslo - I'm interested in your input on something:

 

I think Katharina is retaining 20% as a way of protecting the interests of the club and its supporters, and to keep her father's vision alive.

 

So, to what degree can she rely on minority shareholders' rights to accomplish that goal?

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Nothing to do with the above post Redslo - I'm interested in your input on something:

 

I think Katharina is retaining 20% as a way of protecting the interests of the club and its supporters, and to keep her father's vision alive.

 

So, to what degree can she rely on minority shareholders' rights to accomplish that goal?

 

Very little, she would need more than 25% to block special resolutions.

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Can't say I'm full of joy I would have been happy for the club to remain in KL's ownership indefinitely, this new structure could be good or could be a total disaster. The guy doesn't seem to be rich enough to do much more than KL has in terms of sugar daddy status and the whole Lander not Lander situation leaves a strong whiff in the air!

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Very little, she would need more than 25% to block special resolutions.

 

Under normal principles of company law yes but, with these kind of "joint venture" arrangements, its usual to have a list of "reserved matters" which require unanimous consent from both investors. Given the 80:20 weighting I suspect the list of matters on which KL would have an effective veto right are quite slim. It depends whether the deal was struck on the basis of her retaining a purely economic interest with no shareholder voting rights or whether she still gets a say when it comes to fundamental changes being proposed. I hope the latter is the case.

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Compared to the investment Everton got this is small-fry and the main character comes with some clear alarm bells.

 

That said, KL has clearly been looking to do this for quite a while and has seemingly got to know them so must be happy with what is on the table which tempers the caution slightly.

 

Ultimately, few Asian based takeovers of British football teams have bsen successful so lets hope this is an exception.

 

Interesting content on @Prof_Chadwick and @DreyerChina timelines.

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Not expecting to see much change in the short term. The money will be going to Kat, not for player investment. The diversification of the capital base is a good thing, and new skills doubtless being brought in at Board level, which is also a good thing. Yuning Zhao recently went to West Brom so we are now also a clear route into the EPL for the best Chinese players, which is also a good thing. That's my takeaways anyway.

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So help me get this right.

We got 132m from Sky plus season tickets sales/shirt sales etc and maybe selling VVD for 70m.

Has the new owner bought the club for nothing as he has already got his money back?

I've not even mentioned the value of St Mary's, staplewood and the current players value which I reckon stands at 250m.

If only i could of borrowed 200m and made such a hefty profit myself.

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So help me get this right.

We got 132m from Sky plus season tickets sales/shirt sales etc and maybe selling VVD for 70m.

Has the new owner bought the club for nothing as he has already got his money back?

I've not even mentioned the value of St Mary's, staplewood and the current players value which I reckon stands at 250m.

If only i could of borrowed 200m and made such a hefty profit myself.

 

The Gao family can't just take all the Sky and VVD income and walk off with it! That money will have already been budgeted for to pay for all the extended and improved player contacts/wages and buying Lemina etc.

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With knocking off Kat's loans we're already £60m(?) ahead + the £6m p.a. saving on interest. We were already super conservative in the transfer market so hard to see them investing less there. My guess is things stay the same with regards to our on field/player strategy and all their changes will come off field; building the brand in China, developing around the Stadium.

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PA News say all loans paid in full. Why would you pay tax on the capital gain when loan repayments are tax free? No business runs like you suggest . A big 4 accountant and a top city solicitor will see to that

 

Not sure if you have read my post correctly as the Capital gains and Loan repayment are different issues. If her loans are repaid as others have suggested, it is the club that repay them unless she writes them off. She would not wish to convert them to equity as she did before, as I suspect this would fall foul of the deal with the Chinese. Whilst interest on the Loans are not normally tax free, I agree the capital repayments are. However, as you say I expect some accountant has sewn this up with Trusts and offshore Tax status.

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Not really excited we've been sold to a Chinese crook. Im worried some of our more unrealistic fans are now going to realise how good we had it under the Liebherrs

 

This doesn't really make a whole lot of sense seeing as the Liebherrs no longer wanted to be in charge, and it was them who wanted out rather that "our more unrealistic fans".

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I have liked the sensible, sustainable investment of the Liebherr's. Nothing too flashy either - we grew in a way we could maintain. Hopefully, these new investors are the same.

 

That's the Swiss for you.

 

I'd far rather have another Swiss or even a Scandanavian investor above Asian just in the way that business is conducted and the understanding of the culture here or more generally, Europe. I don't say that with anything against them, but investments aren't only financial, they are also about understanding the culture and history of what you are investing in, the factors around it that affect business decisions.

 

It's far more difficult with an investor from an entirely different culture and background.

 

I have a few friends here in Switzerland who have investors in their start up companies and a lot of challenges come when they took money from places like the Middle East instead of looking closer to home.

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Interesting that he used his own money. I wonder if SFC will eventually be sold on to Lander and whether they will use loans to acquire it.

 

Personally I've been very happy with Kat's ownership, but I don't really understand why she he decided to sell now (unless she thinks the value has topped out) nor why she has sold to this guy. If we are all slightly nervous, why isn't she? I also don't understand why she has bothered to retain a 20% share? Can someone clarify that last point for me. Does she think that with him as the owner the company will thrive and this she will make even more on the deal?

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Interesting that he used his own money. I wonder if SFC will eventually be sold on to Lander and whether they will use loans to acquire it.

 

Personally I've been very happy with Kat's ownership, but I don't really understand why she he decided to sell now (unless she thinks the value has topped out) nor why she has sold to this guy. If we are all slightly nervous, why isn't she? I also don't understand why she has bothered to retain a 20% share? Can someone clarify that last point for me. Does she think that with him as the owner the company will thrive and this she will make even more on the deal?

 

I'd be amazed if it isn't just a temporary sop to anxious fans worried about the identity of the new owner. There will probably be a timetable for the further sale of 20% and she'll be fully divested of her share of the club after twelve months or so.

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Interesting that he used his own money. I wonder if SFC will eventually be sold on to Lander and whether they will use loans to acquire it.

 

Personally I've been very happy with Kat's ownership, but I don't really understand why she he decided to sell now (unless she thinks the value has topped out) nor why she has sold to this guy. If we are all slightly nervous, why isn't she? I also don't understand why she has bothered to retain a 20% share? Can someone clarify that last point for me. Does she think that with him as the owner the company will thrive and this she will make even more on the deal?

 

All I can think is no one else was interested so she's had enough and sold up to this guy. The retaining 20% is the weird one for me, did Gao not have the money to buy 100% or has she kept it for some kind of tax avoidance?

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Interesting that he used his own money. I wonder if SFC will eventually be sold on to Lander and whether they will use loans to acquire it.

 

Personally I've been very happy with Kat's ownership, but I don't really understand why she he decided to sell now (unless she thinks the value has topped out) nor why she has sold to this guy. If we are all slightly nervous, why isn't she? I also don't understand why she has bothered to retain a 20% share? Can someone clarify that last point for me. Does she think that with him as the owner the company will thrive and this she will make even more on the deal?

 

I'd imagine she wants to invest elsewhere. At some point she wants to do something else with the returns she's got/will get.

 

About the 20% share - I'd think she still sees it as profitable and hopes to make something off that remaining 20%.

 

I don't know how much money she sits on but putting so much into one company (Southampton FC) does come with risks.

 

And, could also be simply that she cares about the club and still would like to see it develop. The only way she has any seat at the table in decision making is if she also puts money where her heart is. By 20% she has little overall control but is still able to input. That's at least the optimistic outlook. Could be purely financial though.

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I'd watch what I say if I were you....

 

You've got to be pretty unlucky to be completely innocent and directly involved in massive corruption cases, even in china. Am I wrong in thinking this guy would be in prison under most western laws?

Edited by Bstokesaint
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I'd be amazed if it isn't just a temporary sop to anxious fans worried about the identity of the new owner. There will probably be a timetable for the further sale of 20% and she'll be fully divested of her share of the club after twelve months or so.

 

That would be the scenario that I'd imagine. KL obviously needs the money but wants to appear to be giving some sort of continuity to the affair.

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If I remember rightly Lander sport liked that we developed players and sold them.

 

As for the stadium expansion they really need to reduce ticket prices to fill the extra seats, I have always said if we charged 30 quid for crap teams and 35 for decent teams and ST were 500-520 we would get 38,000 easy for premier league games.

 

For me if they develop the stadium reduce ticket prices but carry on allowing the club to self efficient and sell and spend less and we finish top 10 I wont complain, sadly the Americans have the right approach to sport and ensure fair play with draft and salary caps in NFL and NBA, We will never be a top 4 club unless a few of us have kids that become world class and we make them stay loyal.

 

Much to like here.

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