Our owners.....

I've just been reading tykes talk and come across an interesting post re Conway and co .....which advised to search Nice and Loans ....so having 5 minutes spare I did ....admittedly they no longer own Nice but it certainly makes you think why they bought us.......see below...

OGC Nice, Chien Lee & the mysterious €22m December 2018 loan

Reporting from Challenges and Nice-Matin reveal that current owner of OGC Nice Chien Lee made the club take out a €22m loan in December with an alarmingly high interest rate fixed to it, to the tune of 9% with repayment required over 4 years, as the Chinese-American ownership comes under increasing scrutiny.

The current ownership continues to refuse offers for the club from English billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a tact that has brought fans to increasingly demand Lee’s exit, with the main ultra group la Populaire Sud claiming in a recent statement that the current owners “lack footballing ambition”.

Nice curiously in December 2018 took out a €22m loan from Luxembourg fund Thalos Investment Platform with a 9% interest rate on it. That sum corresponds exactly with the amount of money that the Chinese-American owners have put into the club since their arrival in 2016 – the three men (Chien Lee, Alex Zheng & Paul Conway) took 80% equity, with club president from 2011 to early 2019 Jean-Pierre Rivère retaining 20%. The agreement upon signing insisted that the trio of investors could not recoup their money until two years after signing, so June 2018 – but they appear to have been desperate to do so.

The problem? There was no money in the coffers – Paul Conway put forward the name Thalos Investment Platform at the end of June in 2018. Based in Luxembourg, this company is a subsidiary of Swiss group Vicenda and offers loan financing to companies in debt or markets-based trading financial institutions. Several weeks earlier, in May 2018, two Swiss media groups (Ringier & NZZ) filed a legal complaint against Thalos in a bankruptcy case relating to Swiss advertising giant Publicitas, as reported by Swiss outlet Le Temps. The claims relate to a “transfer contract” which allowed the lender to become the owner of the liabilities and the assets of the indebted company.

Despite the mystery surrounding the Luxembourg fund, OGC Nice enter into discussions with Thalos, who include a series of bizarre clauses in the loan. One source indicated that one of the clauses was that “if the club was in 14th place or lower by the 22nd match of this season, the Nice would have to repay the loan within the week. That put the club in incredible peril.”

Despite also seeking a loan with a big American bank, OGC Nice’s owners went with Thalos after several months of negotiations. A former employee at OGC Nice said: “The worst is over. With the TV rights and the sale of players, the club has largely got the capabilities to repay the loan. However, this series of events shows what the current owners’ priorities are. They would prefer to pocket money in the club than make it available for transfers for example.”

Chien Lee and co. have sought to defend themselves, with a source close to the trio of American-Chinese owners indicating to Nice-Matin: “A part of the €22m went directly into Jean-Pierre Rivère’s pocket.”

JPR – praised for his exceptional handling of the club whilst president – felt that he had to walk at the beginning of 2019 owing to disagreements with the Chinese-American owners – he wants the sale of the club to Sir Jim Ratcliffe to occur. Rivère responded: “It was an advance on the 20% of shares that I agreed to sell them in the owners pact. The price was fixed since their arrival and that sale is due to occur, dependent on certain conditions, in the two years to come.”


Question is do we reckon we are destined for the same route should they get their paws on the ground and the surrounding land...

 

Yes. I don't trust them one bit. They need running out of barnsley before they kill the club

 

I had seen this before somewhere and although im not too fond of our owners, the Nice "previous", concerns me.

 

I think the big thing tjey did there was come in take a loan out to purchase the club (yea loads do that). Then repay said loan with player sales, just hope its not happening here.

 

Just imagine if they managed to buy oakwell and the surrounding area be a very sad day for bfc. Not put any money into the playing squad ending the accademy setup but wanting to use there own money to buy oakwell and the land.....

 

I doubt it would be their own money.

 

For owners who purportedly have sizeable collective "assets" at their disposal, having seen
the Nice loan issue before, it still makes very worrying reading. I believe I read somewhere
that they sold the Club to Jim Ratcliffe for circa £80 million and he has now stabilised the
Club financially.

Last thing we need right now, is any form of a loan round our necks at prohibitive interest rates
and for the Crynes and BMBC to let Lee, Conway and Co to have sole ownership of Oakwell.

 

Probley not by the sounds of it they cant even make the payments to buy the 80% of the club, ten Bob billionaires.

 

Just this 100%

 

The owners are called BFC ..... INVESTMENT.
The name might give people a clue.
That is to say ...... buy something cheap and sell it for a bigger price.
Nowt up with that.

So you may ask - how does that benefit Barnsley and it’s supporters.
Well - the product has to be worth more than when they bought it.
Which means of course that Barnsley becomes a well sort after asset.

They ain’t now ........ but they will be.

 

I hope they both do, I think if crynes sold to them and they then approached the council the council would definitely sell. Leave them free to get loans against the ground/land or sell of for development etc

 

You might think no one listens to you - but I do
Some of my thoughts surrounding these owners
have been formed from listening to what you have said about them.
....... “build the club up to sell“

BTW - I’ve replied through email to you and messaged you - no reply.

 

They took out a loan with Barclays to cover last summer's transfer activity.

 

Why? They sold 9million pounds worth of players, got a 1million windfall from conor and bree getting promoted with villa and got 6million worth of t.v rights

 

The owners have no affinity for Barnsley or it's supporters. They are speculative investors here to make money. The football/player sales are a vehicle by which they hope to make money. If they can utilize any other asset in Barnsley to make money they will. All folk who think they're here to make BFC great are missing the point. They are here to make money. Period. That in itself, while not necessarily a detrimental thing if BFC improve on the pitch, makes me concerned and suspicious.

 

http://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/borrowing-mortgaged-on-club-assets.281138/

 

I dont think theyve spent 1 penny of their own money. I reckon they bought the club on finance with the club as collaterol and the everday finance generated by the club is paying that off and the same goes with player purchases. Never trusted em one bit, especially how they practically pulled the rug from umder us with the Potts sale when we needed to strengthen not sell. That promotion and the escape from relegation was despite their efforts, not because of it. I maybe miles off but look at their other clubs, they soon take a nosedive.

 

Worrying stuff to read. I always try to give them the benefit of the doubt but there’s a bunch of negativity floating around them at the minute...

 

I think you might be way off target there....the crynes are at logger heads or were because the council have on more than once turned down the crynes requests to buy the councils share...