Analysis of the Paladini/Caliendo "Dispute" and Briatore Offer - Dave McIntyre/Ealing Gazette

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David McIntyre/Ealing Gazette - August 16, 2007
Paladini hopes for Flavio takeover
But Caliendo keeps options open

Hopes of a takeover of QPR by a group which includes Renault boss Flavio Briatore have been raised – less than 24 hours after the deal seemed to be dead.
But major shareholder Antonio Caliendo, who will ultimately decide Rangers’ fate, is also in talks with three other interested parties.
A growing rift between Caliendo and QPR chairman Gianni Paladini descended into all-out war ahead of Tuesday night’s match against Leyton Orient.
The row has erupted as Rangers face meltdown unless a takeover or major injection of cash is agreed within weeks.
With Paladini trying to broker a buy-out by a group fronted by Briatore, and Caliendo unhappy with the proposed deal, a storm was brewing ahead of Rangers’ first home game of the season.
Two years after Caliendo and Paladini combined to take charge of the club, the pair were on course to fight each other for control at an all-important board meeting scheduled for later this month.
But the showdown took place earlier than expected, and on Tuesday, Paladini faced the prospect of being ousted.
Caliendo told his one-time ally that he was being dismissed as chairman and then released a terse statement on the club’s website declaring that QPR was not for sale.
Paladini is no stranger to this type of battle for control – it’s his third since he joined the board in 2004.
Later that year he teamed up with Bill Power to remove the then chairman Nick Blackburn, chief executive David Davies and company chairman Ross Jones.
But the Paladini-Power alliance descended into a bitter feud and a year later, Power, who had replaced Blackburn as chairman, was removed after losing a key boardroom vote.
Mark Devlin was promptly sacked as chief executive and Kevin McGrath, the largest shareholder outside the Italian group who collectively own Rangers, later resigned as a director.
That victory, and Power’s subsequent selling of his shares, gave Paladini and Caliendo ownership but their time at the helm has been blighted by problems on and off the pitch.
Earlier this year, Caliendo and his Monaco-based backers stopped covering Rangers’ ongoing losses.
They have loaned the club several million pounds, and repayment is a stumbling block to a possible takeover.
Paladini, who recently declared that he and his colleagues would sell their shares for the price they paid for them, wants Caliendo to agree to the Briatore offer.
Paladini is in line for a lucrative contract to run the club should the deal he favours go ahead, and he believes it will make Rangers one of the biggest clubs in London. Even Paladini’s enemies – and he has made several – who remain close to events at QPR privately admit that the Briatore-linked bid offers by far the best financial package for the club.
But it offers Caliendo and his backers relatively little, causing anger at the way negotiations have been conducted on their behalf.
There has also been anger among other interested parties, who say they have been given short shrift by Paladini despite him publicly declaring that the club may go bust inside a month if a takeover or fresh investment is not secured.
Scare stories about clubs possibly going under are common, and the threat to QPR’s existence has been exaggerated in the past. But now the threat is very real, and time is not on Rangers’ side.
A £1.3million bridging loan from ABC Corporation has been repaid, averting the immediate prospect of them acquiring the Loftus Road ground.
But around £1million must be paid to the Inland Revenue at the end of the month and as things stand, QPR have no ability whatsoever to make that payment and they face administration – or worse – unless a takeover is agreed.
So as Orient left west London on Tuesday hoping for a moneyspinning tie in the next round of the Carling Cup, Rangers’ future was in the balance.
An appparent breakthrough occurred on Wednesday afternoon, with Caliendo appearing to be willing to speak to the Briatore-linked group.
But while the champagne was back on ice within Loftus Road and hopes were again high that a deal may be imminent, Caliendo was in discussions with another interested party as he continues to consider his options.
A key issue for QPR is the troublesome £10million ABC loan, which a previous board secured prior to Rangers coming out of administration in 2002.
Interest payments of around 11per cent are a potential noose around the club’s neck and the terms of that deal were changed when the recent additional £1.3million loan was arranged.
Ominously, ABC can now acquire the freehold on Loftus Road if the original £10million loan is not resolved by August next year.
Briatore’s group plan to take on this loan themselves at a much more favourable interest rate – probably around 6.5 per cent.
One of the parties in talks with Caliendo has suggested they can refinance the loan at around 8.5 per cent.
But the immediate pressure on both QPR and Caliendo is the forthcoming tax bill.
It puts the pressure on QPR for obvious reasons but is also a bargaining chip for Paladini and the Briatore group, because it leaves Caliendo facing the possibility of the club going under, leaving him with even less than he could salvage from the current offer. Unless, that is, he finds an alternative buyer. Ealing Gazette