dongonzalos
Well-Known Member
THE part council owned company that runs the Ricoh Arena has bid to buy the Sky Blues.
The Telegraph has learned of Ricoh firm Arena Coventry Limited’s dramatic swoop to buy Coventry City Football Club Limited out of administration - a closely guarded secret until now.
It will be seen as controversial by some, given the potential for taxpayer involvement in the loss-making club relegated last year to the third tier of English football.
Coventry City Council leaders themselves had previously maintained it is not the business of a taxpayer-funded council to own the football club, which last year recorded annual losses of £6.7million and is up to £70million in debt.
But we can reveal ACL is one of what is believed to be six parties which submitted an “indicative bid” with administrator Paul Appleton in time for last Friday’s deadline.
ACL is now working on the details to meet Mr Appleton’s final deadline of Thursday for bidders’ “best and final offers”.
ACL is an arms-length private company set up by Coventry City Council in 2003 when it stepped in to ensure the Ricoh project went ahead. It is jointly owned by the council and Alan Edward Higgs Charity.
The council and ACL want to unite the club and Ricoh - and see potential profit for the “sleeping giant” club and taxpayer if the club can secure commercial revenues from the stadium.
Until now, leading councillors and ACL have favoured a new private investor stepping in to take over the club from hedge fund Sisu, and become partners in the stadium.
If successful, ACL’s bid to buy CCFC Ltd could keep the Sky Blues playing home matches at the Ricoh.
Sisu-owned Coventry City Football Club (Holdings) Limited - which has continued to operate the club after related hedge fund Arvo placed CCFC Ltd in administration - is threatening to build a new stadium within three years and take the club out of the city in the meantime.
More than 13,000 people have signed a Telegraph petition to keep the Sky Blues in Coventry.
ACL is bidding against Sisu/Holdings to buy whatever assets are in CCFC Ltd.
Those assets could include the Football League’s golden share, which grants the club a licence to play in the league.
It ACL becomes the administrator’s preferred bidder after Thursday’s deadline - it would have to hold discussions with Sisu and Holdings, which holds the players’ contracts.
Holdings boss Tim Fisher insists “the club is not for sale”.
Council leaders insist ACL is a sustainable business with or without a football club - and its last accounts recorded a £1million profit.
But, in January, councillors agreed in private to use £14million of taxpayer “cash balances” to bail out the Ricoh company by buying out its mortgage - with ACL under financial pressure from lost football-related sponsorship and the club’s refusal to pay rent.
The council and ACL have been locked in a legal and financial dispute with Sisu over stadium rent, ownership and revenues.
Another bidder hoping to buy CCFC Ltd is the party headed by suspended Sky Blues life-president Joe Elliott and ex-director Gary Hoffman, with potential investment from US property magnate Preston Haskell IV.
But a bid by North Warwickshire-based businessman Michael Byng, with Chinese investment, is out of the running - after the Telegraph was told he had failed to submit an emailed indicative bid before Friday’s deadline.
Mr Byng insists he had done so, as we reported, and said he was “checking transmission records”.
The administrator announcement yesterday of Thursday’s final deadline has raised fans’ hopes he is close to announcing his preferred bidder, or bidders - who would then have to be assessed by the Football League.
The identities of remaining bidders are not known. But sources claim two other bids are “strong contenders” and come from businessmen previously involved with football. Mr Appleton’s statement said: “I believe the sale process must conclude quickly in order that arrangements can be made for the participation (in the league) of Coventry City Football Club in the forthcoming season.”
The Telegraph has learned of Ricoh firm Arena Coventry Limited’s dramatic swoop to buy Coventry City Football Club Limited out of administration - a closely guarded secret until now.
It will be seen as controversial by some, given the potential for taxpayer involvement in the loss-making club relegated last year to the third tier of English football.
Coventry City Council leaders themselves had previously maintained it is not the business of a taxpayer-funded council to own the football club, which last year recorded annual losses of £6.7million and is up to £70million in debt.
But we can reveal ACL is one of what is believed to be six parties which submitted an “indicative bid” with administrator Paul Appleton in time for last Friday’s deadline.
ACL is now working on the details to meet Mr Appleton’s final deadline of Thursday for bidders’ “best and final offers”.
ACL is an arms-length private company set up by Coventry City Council in 2003 when it stepped in to ensure the Ricoh project went ahead. It is jointly owned by the council and Alan Edward Higgs Charity.
The council and ACL want to unite the club and Ricoh - and see potential profit for the “sleeping giant” club and taxpayer if the club can secure commercial revenues from the stadium.
Until now, leading councillors and ACL have favoured a new private investor stepping in to take over the club from hedge fund Sisu, and become partners in the stadium.
If successful, ACL’s bid to buy CCFC Ltd could keep the Sky Blues playing home matches at the Ricoh.
Sisu-owned Coventry City Football Club (Holdings) Limited - which has continued to operate the club after related hedge fund Arvo placed CCFC Ltd in administration - is threatening to build a new stadium within three years and take the club out of the city in the meantime.
More than 13,000 people have signed a Telegraph petition to keep the Sky Blues in Coventry.
ACL is bidding against Sisu/Holdings to buy whatever assets are in CCFC Ltd.
Those assets could include the Football League’s golden share, which grants the club a licence to play in the league.
It ACL becomes the administrator’s preferred bidder after Thursday’s deadline - it would have to hold discussions with Sisu and Holdings, which holds the players’ contracts.
Holdings boss Tim Fisher insists “the club is not for sale”.
Council leaders insist ACL is a sustainable business with or without a football club - and its last accounts recorded a £1million profit.
But, in January, councillors agreed in private to use £14million of taxpayer “cash balances” to bail out the Ricoh company by buying out its mortgage - with ACL under financial pressure from lost football-related sponsorship and the club’s refusal to pay rent.
The council and ACL have been locked in a legal and financial dispute with Sisu over stadium rent, ownership and revenues.
Another bidder hoping to buy CCFC Ltd is the party headed by suspended Sky Blues life-president Joe Elliott and ex-director Gary Hoffman, with potential investment from US property magnate Preston Haskell IV.
But a bid by North Warwickshire-based businessman Michael Byng, with Chinese investment, is out of the running - after the Telegraph was told he had failed to submit an emailed indicative bid before Friday’s deadline.
Mr Byng insists he had done so, as we reported, and said he was “checking transmission records”.
The administrator announcement yesterday of Thursday’s final deadline has raised fans’ hopes he is close to announcing his preferred bidder, or bidders - who would then have to be assessed by the Football League.
The identities of remaining bidders are not known. But sources claim two other bids are “strong contenders” and come from businessmen previously involved with football. Mr Appleton’s statement said: “I believe the sale process must conclude quickly in order that arrangements can be made for the participation (in the league) of Coventry City Football Club in the forthcoming season.”