Rugby Council still denies 'new stadium' contact... (1 Viewer)

lordsummerisle said:

This bit has always puzzled me in the judgement, why, if it was as he stated, was there no private investor making the loan?

Surely there should have been no reason for the Council to use their funds for a loan to ACL, when private investors would have been willing to and it would have been commercially worthwhile.

Why did the council not issue a loan initially to ACL at the start rather than Yorkshire Bank? Especially as it would have been paid back to them immediately for the cost of the lease(as was the initial £25million from YB I think?).

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I get the impression that bringing the loan "in house" at the time was a protective measure. After all Sisu were trying to buy the debt from YB, what would stop them doing ti with another third party? By bringing it in house they protect against that risk.

Just guesswork, the but mood at the time was very bunker mentality from what we could see in the press and the documents at the time. If priority 1 was seeing off the Sisu threat (and why not) then I suppose it makes sense to avoid being at the behest of a third party.

I honestly think the council saw what a nightmare Sisu could be and that they're willing to pull out all the legal stops to cause trouble and set about reducing their risk. Hence the refinancing. Hence the sale to Wasps. They essentially said as much when they sold to Wasps that a large part of the reason was reducing exposure to Sisu's legal tactics.

Looking purely at the economics, Sisu have probably cost the council getting on for £1m in various legal costs and time wasted on this crap. For an issue that affects maybe 1.5% of the electorate that's a ridiculous waste of time.

And yet they and the taxpayer are still liable for the whole shebang if "loss making" Wasps default. Genius really.

shmmeee said:

I get the impression that bringing the loan "in house" at the time was a protective measure. After all Sisu were trying to buy the debt from YB, what would stop them doing ti with another third party? By bringing it in house they protect against that risk.

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