Club Shares

Discussion of all things related to the club and first team
Richard
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 5:30 pm

I notice from Companies House that someone has been buying up a few other peoples shares.

Hopefully someone looking to back the board in respect of the clubs future plans.
NickT
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:46 pm

Ramayana Ventures Ltd, now become biggest shareholders!!
A company started up 2 months ago, by 2 Italian brothers who have been seen at the Club a few times during the season
Shepperton Supporter
Posts: 1605
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:18 pm

U
NickT wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 6:16 pm Ramayana Ventures Ltd, now become biggest shareholders!!
A company started up 2 months ago, by 2 Italian brothers who have been seen at the Club a few times during the season
Think we need to know their plans, the ground cannot be the attraction as we don’t own it. As it is a non listed company the current board must be aware of the share movement. We await some sort of statement.
Tony
Posts: 1304
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:57 pm

Any share transfers must be approved by the board so they must be. A quick Google suggests the new shareholders have some relevant background in sport and football. An interesting development and hopefully a positive one. Once again club seems slow in making an announcement even if it is just a holding one to avoid unnecessary speculation.
Jamie
Posts: 470
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:51 am

As a life member of the Supporters Trust, who were the major shareholder, shouldn't members be informed of any such purchase of shares?
Isn't the Supporters Trust in place to protect the best interests of the club, and query any such new involvement to ensure the people have the right reasons for getting involved?

Only too recently Staines thought they were getting a great new investor, and look how that's turned out.
Does anyone actually know who these people are, who are they linked to, why are they getting involved?

With the very recent developments of an application for 3G pitch, but no funding for it, is this an obvious link? Will they fund the pitch, and then look to take out a profit share or dividends?

I really hope the club isn't taking a huge risk here.
Jamie
Posts: 470
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 11:51 am

Rafaele & Stefano Petruzzo
UNITED XTREME ATHLETES LTD - Incorporated on 11 September 2013 - 93199 - Other sports activities
UXA DEVELOPMENTS LIMITED - Incorporated on 5 December 2016 - Nature of business (SIC) 41100 - Development of building projects
UXA FLY LIMITED - Incorporated on 5 December 2016 - 68209 - Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
ROGUE IGNITE LIMITED - Incorporated on 27 April 2018 - 70229 - Management consultancy activities other than financial management
RAMAYANA VENTURES LIMITED - Incorporated on 28 February 2022 - Sports and recreation education
NOTHING BUT NET VENTURES LTD - Incorporated on 3 March 2022 - 93199 - Other sports activities


The two most recent companies, potentially things to do for the football club?


It seems strange nothing mentioned by the chairman at the recent Q&A as talks must have been very advanced at that stage, not very transparent, not even a mention of new investors being spoken too.
Shepperton Supporter
Posts: 1605
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:18 pm

Think what Jamie wrote many supporters will echo, Staines is an example of how things can go wrong very quickly. Football is littered with stories of clubs being taken over by fresh investors and it has ended up in tears.
Much will depend on the plans of the new investors as well as how much input and control the Trust will have. This information needs to be made known. It might have an effect on Gary’s budget for next season.
One could see that buying up shares from ex directors who no longer have any input might be a good move as it could signal further investment. One would be concerned if this is a prelude to them purchasing additional shares from other shareholders, or issuing further share to themselves to dilute the,Trust’s percentage.
Early days, hopefully we will get details soon.
Tony
Posts: 1304
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:57 pm

At the moment the club has a restriction that no one party can own more than 30% of the shares. In addition, existing shareholders have pre emption rights so any new shares issued must be offered on the same terms to existing shareholders so they have the opportunity not to be diluted. Of course shareholders would have to put up more cash to prevent dilution and may not have the ability to do so but this is just how things work. Any attempt to gain control of the board would need a change to the club’s M&As to remove the 30% restriction. Existing shareholders would get to vote on this and any change would also need to be approved by the FA.

However, we have no detail in order to understand whether this is something to be concerned about or is a very positive development which enhances the club. I very much hope the latter and know the current board is very focused on the long term sustainability of the club. I would imagine the new shareholders will want board positions as largest shareholder. As far as I can see they have no obvious ties to the club but this does not matter too much if they are planning to work alongside existing shareholders and directors for the long term. The Supporters Trust clearly has a key role in how this might work as does the Chairman. I am guessing that the S T may be subject to NDAs so may not be able to be public about plans, if indeed they are aware of them in any depth. Now that cat is out of the bag we really have to wait for more information.

Non league is littered with the sorry tales of disastrous owners who run clubs into the ground and walk away so we are all right to be wary. Governance is key and that’s why Supporter ownership and involvement has been vital in preventing many of the worst excesses.
Adam
Posts: 114
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2021 9:50 am

If the two guys are who I believe they are I have seen them at many games this season. The first one I remember would be Bath away on a Tuesday night. However likely they had been attending before then but easy to notice people when you don't have many at a Tuesday night away game.
So might be a good chance they first attended as fans before getting involved.
HamptonMad
Posts: 873
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:56 pm

I think they are really after The Club Car.
Lord Elpus
Posts: 643
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 3:09 pm

We probably have nothing to worry about at all but it is just a little bit concerning. I just fail to see what's in it for them but no-one just wants to hand a football club their cash unless they benefit in some way. Or do they? If something seems too good to be true it's usually because it is!
I wonder how the Supporters Trust feel about it...they might not be able to say anything but the rather bland statement put out earlier by the football club just raises more questions than answers.
Tony
Posts: 1304
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:57 pm

As they say, how do you make £5m from a football club? Invest £10m. Who knows what the motives are until we hear more but our league is full of owners and directors ploughing significant sums into their clubs for no obvious return other than the living the dream. Depends if you can afford the investment over the longer term because it is extremely rare that you will see a penny in dividends. As we have substantial accumulated losses, the club is in no position to declare any dividends anyway.
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