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In May 2002 (long before the present Board took over at QPR), QPR took 10 million pound loan at 10% per annum from the "mysterious" ABC Lenders. For more re ABC Loan, see QPR Report re ABC and QPR Report
This week, an article by Ben Kosky in the Kilburn Times "ABC spells trouble for five more years"
"QPR chairman Gianni Paladini has revealed that the club could be saddled with their crippling ABC loan until 2012 - unless new investors come forward within weeks.
Rangers have been struggling to pay off the Panamanian-based company for the last five years, when a loan of £10m enabled the club to come out of administration.
But, after the collapse of a proposed deal with Oldham chairman Simon Blitz, Paladini has issued a desperate plea for alternative finance to help him renegotiate the ABC payments.
"Time is very short," the Rs chairman told the Times. "The conditions with ABC are that if we don't do anything in one month, the deal is set for another five years.
"The rate of interest is going up to 11.59 per cent. We need somebody with a lot of money, who can buy off the ABC loan - if anyone is capable of rearranging the deal, I want to hear from them.
"The door is open and this is the time, if there's anybody out there with QPR at heart, to come in. The club is in better condition now than it's been for a long time.
"I've tried, the rest of the board have tried, shareholders have tried and Bill Power tried when he was here - it's not easy. We need people who are serious, not a waste of time...."
"Cook was never an issue," stressed Paladini. "We had an agreement with the Americans that they would buy the ABC loan, plus put another £3m into the club.
"It was a fantastic deal for us, everything was set for them to come in and I asked them to put down a deposit. I was trying to protect the deal for QPR and I asked them to make sure everything was above board. "It was nothing to do with selling Cook. I could easily have balanced the books by selling Cook and [Dexter] Blackstock, but I don't want to do that..." Kilburn Times
SOME PAST STATEMENTS RE ABC LOAN Loan
May 2007 - QPR OFFICIAL SITE - CLUB STATEMENT
The Board have today (Sunday) issued the following statement with regards to on-going speculation in the national press.
Queens Park Rangers FC have been involved in discussions with Simon Blitz about possibilities of re-financing the ABC loan at a better interest rate for QPR.
As part of those negotiations, and by way of a down-payment to demonstrate his interest in assisting with this in the future, Mr Blitz agreed to loan QPR £500,000.
It was agreed that the loan was not in violation of the Football Association or Football League rules.
Mr Blitz, as the lending party, assured QPR that he was satisfied, having received his own legal advice, that the loan did not violate any football rules.
The loan, and the security for the loan was not hidden and was made public by the registration of the security at Companies House.
Contrary to press reports, the loan was not made to help QPR with its payroll, but was made in the context of the ABC re-financing discussions.
Having taken further advice, and having discovered that Simon Blitz did not have the prior written authorisation of the F.A. to make this loan, QPR has agreed to pay the loan back forthwith.
QPR would like to assure its supporters that it has no intention of selling Lee Cook, and the fact that the proceeds of any future sale was offered as a security does not suggest this.
Mr Blitz had no say in any potential sale of Lee Cook, and now it is agreed to repay the loan he will not have a security over him.
QPR will continue to work hard to try and re-finance the ABC loan in the near future.
The contents of this statement have been shown to Simon Blitz and agreed by him. It will also been sent to the Football Association.QPR
April 12 2007 QPR Fans Consultative Group Minutes
6. ABC Loan Update
[Director Kevin Steele] KS spoke/updated about this; saying that the ABC loan as we all know came via an offshore company and that there are regulations protecting their confidentiality; that the interest rate of 10% is crippling and that the board are looking at ways of getting it refinanced/paid off.
He went on to say that there are discussions ongoing currently with three banks - one German and two well known banks - and that they are trying to negotiate a 7%- 7.5% rate of interest. Not only that but also looking at the possibility of incorporating some way of starting to pay off the capital. Talks are ongoing, but obviously due to the confidential nature of the discussions, they cannot say too much at the moment. QPR
June 6, 2006 - Chairman Paladini on ABC - QPR Official Site
"...As I still get asked about the ABC loan I would like to tell the fans and shareholders that we are hoping to replace the ABC loan in the near future with a cheaper loan from a more reputable financial institution.
What do we know about the ABC Corporation? Unfortunately very little, we have suspicions, but we can't prove who the controlling interest behind the ABC Corporation is.
The ABC Corporation's lack of transparency means that the Board must question their motives and their attitude towards the club which is why the Board wish to refinance the ABC loan. We will be reviewing the legality of the ABC loan. QPR
May 2, 2006 Clive Whittingham QPR Rivals Q&A with Paladini:
Q: "Five years until the ABC loan expires - should we be worried yet?
Paladini It is my mission to stop that. I didn't create that situation and it's a difficult one to deal with but while I'm here it is my mission to get rid of it. The more people who see we're doing a good job the better the chance is that they'll help us out and work with us on this. We were very close to doing a deal with the Lloyds bank but then there was all that stuff in the Evening Standard and they pulled out, didn't want to know any more. When I took over here, the VAT man, the tax man, the creditors - none of them trusted QPR, and we've had to catch up with payments. People were queuing up for money here in September. We have to put forward a united front and look like a secure option for people to come and help us out. We're working hard on this, Antonio is in Milan today talking to banks and potential lenders. I am confident we'll be rid of the loan within the five years. Whatever happens I'm sure we'll do it...
Q: Do we even know who ABC Corporation are?
Paladini No, no idea. They're based in Panama with a Swiss bank account I think but we just don't know. Ross Jones does though - "I know who's behind it all but I gave my word that I wouldn't reveal who it is so that's that. I'm a man of my word."
QPR Rivals
QPR 1st AGM April 2006
"...When asked to elaborate a little upon the groups, GP started to become a tad defensive, saying that himself and AC had put so much into the club, and then mentioned that at that very time, whilst he cannot say too much, AC was currently away in Milan attempting to see if he could find a solution to being able to refinance the ABC loan, saying “I realise what you Tracy, and others are talking about today about paying off the loan, but we need to try to look at ways of refinancing it, and getting it away from ABC when the 5-year term is up”. He then went onto mention that whilst he appreciated people’s concern, he wanted to give an example of how gossip on messageboards does have the potential to scupper possible commercial deals, citing how they had apparently verbally agreed with a High Street bank a renegotiation of the loan, only for them to pull out due to lack of confidence following rumours of the company going into administration. QPR1st
March 17, 2006 - QPR 1st Report QPR Holdings Ltd AGM
Whilst talking about loans, CP went on to mention the ABC loan, saying that the interest was 10% on it for 5 years, after 5 years (Spring of next year) there is a break clause, however the clause is not to our benefit because if we cannot find a way out of the loan, then ABC can up the interest should they so wish.
Antonio Caliendo then expressed a wish to speak and with the translation skills of Paolo Mina, we learnt that according to AC, the Board wishes to reach an agreement with ABC before the 5 year period and that they hope to present better results next year in order to hopefully be able to do this..... QPR1st
December 2005 QPR Official Site Q&A -
it appears to me very easy and without access to the financial side at QPR, I guess I can only make assumptions. Are there negotiations taking place with solicitors, lenders and ABC in order to either re-negotiate with ABC or a high street lender?
Paladini: We are arranging a new loan with the Lloyds TSB. The directors will give their personal guarantee on the loan. We hope to get an interest rate between 5.75% to 6%. Depending on the final interest rate we will save between £400-425k per year. QPR
LSA- November 2005
"... LSA reps asked whether there was any progress on renegotiating the loan. GP said that talks are underway with a UK bank to try and get them to take over the loan at a rate of 6.5% instead of the 10% that we currently pay. We are also in negotiations with ABC Corporation to try and reduce the lump sum we will have to pay them if the bank takes over the loan.
GP said: “The loan was not the immediate problem – the biggest problem here was getting running costs back under control and avoiding administration, which we have done.” He said the club has saved £160k a year, for example, just by not replacing Mark Devlin and Mark Austin.
Despite that, our outgoings are still phenomenal. GP said that in the last 18 months our income has been £18m but this has all been spent. In one month alone we paid out £1.2m on bills, “but we still have money in the bank”.
A Member asked whether we are doing anything about the way the ABC loan was taken out. GP said there is nothing we can do, so it is not worth pursuing." LSA
October 2005 - Ron Norris/QPRNet Interview with Paladini QPRnet.com:
Is it true that we are behind on our payments to many suppliers?
Paladini: I tried to renegotiate the ABC loan and then some rubbish goes in the paper saying I was this and I was that, saying I was robbing the club and then they say we are going to go into liquidation. If while this is all going on you go to the bank to borrow ten million pounds that doesn’t do you any favours. I got an email from the bank and they didn’t want to take it any further because of these rumours. Never mind, we’ll carry on and eventually we’ll get rid of the ABC loan. QPR Net
October 2005 - QPR1st Minutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005
ABC loan
We asked the question if The ABC Corporation are connected with any of the Monaco consortiums or the investors behind them. GP and AC seemed to find this amusing and stated categorically that ABC and the Monaco groups are not the same!
GP and CP explained they had no more clue than us as to who was behind ABC. There is very little copy correspondence in the QPR offices in relation to the loan. CP advised that he did not know if any arrangement fee or commission was paid on the loan when originally set up. CP also stated that at the beginning of each financial year on 1st June the figures showed a £1million loss. It is hoped that ABC may accept early repayment of the loan, which will be re financed with a more traditional identifiable lender.
We asked GP if there were any update on this, and if so would he be able to tell us with which banks the club are hoping to renegotiate with. GP stated that so far there have been talks with two banks, one of which would offer an interest rate of 6.5, whilst the other would offer 7%. He is unable to inform us at the time being as to which banks they have been talking to but CP said if they could get the loan renegotiated with a traditional institution, they would feel safer. He also said that on such a renegotiated deal, £300,000 per year in interest charges could be saved which could be directed to repaying the £10 million originally borrowed.
When asked about any fee charges for early repayment by ABC and CP said it would be negotiable.
And what about any new bank, what kind of security would they look at in order to protect their money? It was stated that any bank would secure a charge on the assets i.e. the ground.
And is there any truth in the rumour that the club have been behind in its payments to the ABC Corporation we asked? Absolutely not replied GP. QPR1st
September 8, 2005 - LSA - REPORTED STATEMENTS FROM LSA & QPR 1st
".....This Thursday GP is going to meet some bankers to try and borrow money at an interest rate of 6% in order to pay off ABC. If he is successful that would save QPR £400k a year..." QPR1st
September 2005 QPR 1st 0 Minutes/Report from Meeting with Club/Board Thursday 15th September 2005 -
ABC Loan – GG asked for some clarification regarding the ABC loan and the Board's thoughts regarding it and if whether there had been any recent news relating to the comments made by GP about the possibility of the renegotiating of it? GP responded by saying that he/they “are currently in negotiations with a top bank looking at the possibility of getting it renegotiated at a rate of 6.5%”. GG spoke about the early redemption penalties and asked if GP could give any hints as to the terms, conditions and how long a period we would be talking about regarding a possible renegotiated deal, but GP said he couldn't comment but hoped to have some good news soon. GP stated that he felt the extra 2% (i.e. from 8% to 10%) was the fault of Ross Jones who he understood agreed to the change of rate at the last hour. QPR1st
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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query abc. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query abc. Sort by date Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, July 28, 2008
Remembering The ABC Loan
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Assuming all works out as has been reported on the boards, QPR - and QPR fans - will finally say goodbye to six years of the "mysterious" ABC Loan which was "sucking" from the club more than a million pounds a year merely in interest payments and which had/has an end-of-July repayment date.
According to posters, QPR shareholders have received a mailing seeking their approval for the ABC Loan to be paid off and the loan transferred to Amulya Property Limited, which is supposedly connected to Flavio Briatore and Amit Bhatia (beyond that, nothing has been posted about Amulya Property). The Amulya loan will reportedly be at 8.5%. It is for two years, and Loftus Road is collateral. (As the posters note, they have till August 20 to approve. The ABC loan requires to be paid on or before 31st July 2008.)
Although there are still some obvious questions about the new loan and how it's going to be paid off in two years, this will at least close one saga and reduce the annual payment by several hundred thousand pounds a year.
For year after year, club officials, board members and fans outlike all spoke harshly about the ABC loan almost since day #1 since the club left administration and announced the ABC loan back in May 2002. As former Chairman Bill Power phrased it in an interview last year "In my opinion [the ABC Loan] nearly killed us. I don’t like the phrase but, it has been like a cancer slowly draining us for years and thank god we now have a cure....it nearly killed us off." (WeAreTheRangersBoysQ&ABillPower)
Besides the various posts on the boards over the years, there have been innumerable items about ABC at the QPR1st site and also at Boardroom Blues. Also see this blog; or just google QPR and ABC.
Among the past "compilations re the ABC Loan"
- September 3, 2006 - "Refocusing on QPR's "Mysterious" ABC Loan"
- April 18, 2007 Almost Five Years Since QPR's ABC Loan, Exit Administration and Takeover Efforts Ended
May 6 2007 - QPR Statement re Blitz Loan, ABC Refinancing and Returning Loan
- QPR Report October 27, 2006 QPR's ABC Loan: What's Known #1
- QPR's Ongoing 10% per-annum ABC Loan & QPR's Efforts to Deal with it
Since last year's takeover, there were a few official comments re the ABC loan
September 2007 - Outgoing QPR Chairman Paladini interviewed by WeAreTheRangersBoys
"Q) Has the ABC loan been paid?
A: "All been paid, the club, the ground belongs to them. All responsibilities lies with them now. Its easier for them to go to their banks and get their own guarantees. We don't have to worry. The club belongs to Flavio and Bernie now.
September 25, 2007 - QPR's Former Director and continuing Legal Advisor Nick De Marco (Interview "WeAreTheRangersBoys) "...It is my understanding the new board plan a substantial commitment to the club. If the ABC loan has not already been paid when you publish this interview, I can assure you they have a professional firm of solicitors who will be dealing with this issue and it is definitely in the process of being replaced." Interview
November 18, 2007 QPR1st - EGM report November 18, 2007 The ABC Loan
Questions were raised regarding the ABC loan, how this is being dealt with and whether ABC have the right to purchase Loftus Road Stadium next summer. Regarding the potential sale of Loftus Road Stadium to ABC, Mr Agag stated he could say "categorically this is not going to happen". He said that they were still working on how they were going to deal with this issue, but that Loftus Road Stadium would stay in the company.
The club's finances will be taken forward through various different avenues including the new shareholders investment, sponsorship and future commercial and revenue streams.
In the first period there will be substantial financial investment injected but there are plans afoot for the medium and long term in which the Board and owners feel the company and club can be profitable
December 17, 2007 - Fans Consultative Committee Meeting Minutes
On Thursday 13th December, representatives from QPR 1st's Management
3e - What is the position with the Clubs' debts? Has the ABC loan been paid off?
Alejandro Agag said the following:
- that "the club debts are gone" and have been cleared, but the ABC loan still exists.
- the Board are currently still deciding on how to tackle the ABC loan.
- a decision on how to tackle it will be made within 2-3 months.
- that decision will be either getting a bank to pay back at a normal rate or to pay it off themselves.
- they will make their choice by 1st July which is when they have to sort this out by.
- the new Board and the Club are carrying out further investigations into how the ABC loan was set up and whether there is an evidence of malpractice...
- Nick De Marco reported that the Board had instructed there to be a serious investigation into the background to the ABC loan and sale of the training ground to discover if there had been any financial impropriety. " QPR1st
February 11, 2008 QPR's Financial Situation Under its New Owners: Bernie Ecclestone's Perspective- The Times/Alex Wade -
"...But if high noon at Loftus Road seemed, at times, in danger of becoming a weekly event, QPR emerged from administration in 2002 thanks to a £10 million loan from the ABC Corporation. The benevolence of the Panama-registered company came at a price – a cool £1 million in annual interest – and, until the Formula One duo turned up, seemed set to dog any attempt to escape the lower reaches of the second tier.
Yet even as Ecclestone and Co took the reins there were murmurs of disquiet. One newspaper made much of the fact that, some two months into the new regime, the ABC loan had yet to be discharged. Ecclestone is happy to set the record straight.
“We will pay the debt when we can – at the end of June this year,” he says. “That’s when the loan matures, so that’s when we can pay it back.” ” The Times
May 2008 - At the QPR AGM from May 2008 - From QPR1st
ABC Loan Alejandro Agag said -
- that the ABC loan has not yet been paid.
- that talks are continuing with a number of parties to refinance the loan before the
July 31st deadline.
- the Club are still looking for the best situation and solution.
- that the difficulty with banks is they will not give a loan to any football club.
- that the Board will pay out of their own pocket if nothing suitable is found.
-that the Club will not lose ownership of it's ground. QPR1st
THREE EARLIER PRESS ARTICLES ON QPR AND THE ABC LOAN
David Conn, The Independent, April 9, 2005 - FOOTBALL: From ABC to QPR, the tangled tale of how football gambled
Michael Hunt, the former managing director of Nissan UK, who was sentenced to eight years for his role in the largest tax fraud ever perpetrated in Britain, is, according to sources, the man behind the ABC Corporation, a Panama-registered company which has lent pounds 10m and pounds 15m to Queen's Park Rangers and Derby County respectively, and has mortgages on both Loftus Road and Pride Park.
Hunt was convicted in 1993 of conspiring to cheat the Inland Revenue, after Southwark Crown Court heard that for nine years Hunt, along with the company's chairman Octav Botnar and another director, had orchestrated a 'truly massive' tax fraud, by using bogus invoices and a sham shipping agent to siphon pounds 149.2m from the company and launder it through offshore companies, depriving the Inland Revenue of pounds 56.3m tax and pounds 36m interest.
Botnar stayed in Switzerland and refused to come back to face trial, although he later agreed a settlement with the Inland Revenue. Hunt, however, who was said by the prosecution to have made pounds 30m personally from the frauds, and another former Nissan UK director, Frank Shannon, were convicted for their parts in the scam. Hunt appealed, but his conviction and sentence were upheld in May 1994.
QPR, who had long been in administration following their financial collapse under Chris Wright's ownership, borrowed pounds 10m from the ABC Corporation in May 2002, at an interest rate of 10 per cent, pounds 1m a year, a huge amount for the once-chirpy club to pay. Companies registered in Panama, a tax haven, do not have to disclose their shareholders or directors, but in March 2003 rumours began to circulate on QPR fans' messageboards that Hunt was behind ABC.
After ABC provided the money, a 'consultant legal adviser,' Philip Englefield, became a director of QPR to represent ABC's interests on the club's board. The club's supporters' trust, QPR 1st , then discovered that in 1991 Englefield had been struck off the roll of solicitors by the Law Society for improperly taking nearly pounds 900,000 from his firm's clients' bank account.
QPR asked him to stand down, which he did, although he continued to act as ABC's contact, a role the club said he discharged professionally. Englefield, it turns out, had also been convicted of theft and fraud offences for taking pounds 4.7m from his firm's client account, and been sentenced in March 1993 to seven years in prison, reduced to six on appeal. A year later, he wrote to The Sunday Times, praising the fish and chip supper, 'the gastronomic highlight of the week' " served up on Fridays in his prison.
In October 2003, Derby County, relegated after six seasons in the Premier League and, under their former owner Lionel Pickering, sagging beneath pounds 31m debts, were suddenly put into receivership. The club and their ground were sold to a newly formed company, Sharmine Limited, and new directors were unveiled: Jeremy Keith, a 'business doctor' specialising in financially failing businesses, who had briefly been involved at Portsmouth FC before they went into administration in 1998; Steven Harding, an advertising executive, and a perhaps unlikely figure as the new chairman of Derby: John Sleightholme, a barrister and the deputy coroner for North Yorkshire.
At the time the directors said they would not reveal who owned the club, a stance they have maintained ever since. A month later, it emerged that the pounds 15m finance for their takeover had come from the same ABC Corporation, registered in Panama City.
Sleightholme had been previously involved in a venture with a former Scottish players' agent, Murdo MacKay, who, a few months later, joined Derby as the club's director of football. MacKay's own business career is somewhat chequered; he was a Fifa-registered players' agent for what he described as 11 'unblemished' years, but one of his companies, Inside Soccer Recruitment, which had a high- profile launch in 2001 and was backed by the former Rangers and England centre-back Terry Butcher among others, went bust just 18 months later, owing a large tax bill and leaving creditors, including a furious Butcher, unpaid.
From 1993 to 1996, MacKay was made personally bankrupt after the failure of another recruitment agency, MMK Associates, when 19 creditors, ranging from the Inland Revenue to a furniture loan company, were left owed pounds 157,659. MacKay has, however, said he has put that behind him and is applying his knowledge of football to reviving Derby's fortunes.
Last month, Sharmine Limited, which owns Derby, finally revealed who its owners are, but that only opened into a new layer of opaque anonymity in yet more tax havens: two of its shareholders are registered as companies in Belize, the other in the British Virgin Islands.
Sources close to the deals, however, confirmed to me this week that Michael Hunt is the ultimate source of the ABC cash. He is understood to operate a family trust registered in Switzerland, whose size, the sources said, runs into 'nine figures'. A lawyer in Basle, Dr Hans Georg Hinderling, has represented ABC Corporation in their dealings with QPR.
QPR's current board, chaired by lifelong Rangers fan Bill Power, who took the club over last year, has since been scathing about the ABC loan it inherited: 'It is scandalous,' Power told me, 'that we've been saddled with this debt, from a Panama corporation of all places, at such an outrageous interest rate.'
David Davies, the chief executive at the time the deal was done, who is now working for London Wasps Rugby Club, maintained however that QPR had no alternatives at the time: 'Looking back, yes I am uncomfortable about the loan we had to take out, but no banks would lend to us. It was a matter of keeping the club in business.'
At Derby, ABC replaced one load of debt, owed to Lombard and the Co-op Bank, with the money now owed to them. The club's directors have told the Supporters' Trust, Ramstrust, that the debts have increased another pounds 4m since they took over, to pounds 35m. Ted McMinn, the former Rams' winger who now commentates for BBC Radio Derby, has been a sceptic from the start: 'We know very little about these people, or why they took over,' he told me. 'They appear to have put no money in themselves, and the debt isn't getting smaller.'
In a meeting with Ramstrust last December, Jeremy Keith said of Michael Hunt's rumoured involvement with ABC: 'We can't categorically say who is involved,' although Michael Hunt's name was not on any documentation and was not an officer of the organisation. This week John Sleightholme said they had had no dealings with Hunt
Independent
The ABC of boardroom intrigue at Loftus Road - David Conn The Guardian - Wednesday October 19, 2005
We know plenty more now about how Chelsea were airlifted from Ken Bates' debt mountain by the billionaire from nowhere, but for their near-neighbours, Queens Park Rangers, no such outrageous fortune has delivered them from turmoil. QPR were threatened with expulsion by the Football League in 2002, having been in administration for a year, and staggered out only by clutching a £10m loan from the mysterious Panama-registered ABC Corporation, which has burdened them ever since....
...QPR are still reaping the consequences of their version of living the dream, after they were taken over and floated on the stock market in 1996 by Chris Wright, the Chrysalis music entrepreneur. He invested £10m but, in April 2001, with QPR having lost £27m, Wright put QPR into administration. A month later they were relegated to the then Second Division.
In May 2002, with the Football League insisting the club could not start the new season in administration, QPR accepted the £10m loan from the ABC Corporation, at 10%, £1m, annual interest, secured on Loftus Road. ABC's owners cannot be officially identified, but sources at QPR believe the man behind the company is Michael Hunt, the former Nissan UK director who in 1993 was sentenced to eight years in jail for his role in what was then Britain's largest tax fraud.
Loftus Road and Pride Park mortgaged to Panamanian company - David Conn - Independent, 8 November 2003
Derby follow Queen's Park Rangers in restructuring debt via faceless ABC Corporation represented by struck-off solicitor
The identity of the so-called "mystery backer" that loaned £15m to take Derby County from the Co-Op Bank's receivers a fortnight ago can now be revealed; and what could possibly reassure Derby fans more than to know their club is in debt and has mortgaged its celebrated new stadium to a faceless company registered in Panama?
Quite why the newly appointed board at Derby, led by the new chairman, John Sleightholme, a barrister and the deputy coroner of South Yorkshire, felt compelled to withhold this news when he took over at the end of last month, is unclear. Mortgages have to be registered at Companies House, and so, a few days later, a document duly appeared on the public record which succinctly stated that: "All that freehold property known as Derby County Stadium Pride Park", is mortgaged to ABC Corporation, of Calle Aquilino de la Guardia no 8, Panama City, the Republic of Panama.
This, of course, only gets anyone so far, which is one of the whole points of registering companies in Panama. The Panamanian Consulate in London proudly advertises on its website that a principal advantage for people registering "offshore corporations" in the country is that the Republic operates "the most secure confidentiality laws to be found anywhere." Companies must name officers, but these are usually lawyers working for the owners, whose identity does not have to be disclosed, and the companies do not have to file accounts or regular financial information.
The other main advantage is that a company registered in Panama which does not actually operate in the country - like ABC Corporation and most of the 350,000 other companies registered there - pay no tax except a token annual administration fee. The consulate particularly stresses the advantages for banking: "The income derived is exempt from Panamanian taxes, which is a very attractive feature."
The limited information available from the public registry in Panama City states that ABC Corporation was formed in October 1984. The address at Calle Aquilino de la Guardia is that of a law firm. Its first officers, a president, secretary and treasurer, were three Swiss lawyers, Peter Lenz, Marcel Muff and Hans Hinderling, who is a registered footballers' agent. Then in 1992 following a meeting at Hinderling's offices in Basle, the officers of the
company were changed to lawyers in another offshore tax haven, the Bahamas: Richard Lightbourne, Hartis Pinder and Lourey Smith, of the firm McKinney Bancroft and Hughes in Nassau. But that's it. The identity of the owner, or the source of the money, is hidden.
Derby themselves refused to elaborate this week, consistent with Sleightholme's statement when he took over with his fellow new directors, Steven Harding and Jeremy Keith - the prime mover of the takeover - that they would keep the source of the £15m loan confidential. A club spokesman said the loan had been "passed" by the Football Association and League, but this does not mean that the source has been disclosed or vetted in any way. The FA has no system yet for vetting football club directors - the long-promised "fit and proper person test" - let alone to examine the ever more far-flung sources of finance to which many clubs are turning as ordinary banks pull out of the game with their fingers singed.
The League did pass ABC Corporation's loan, but under a different rule, the one which prohibits one person or company having an interest in two clubs - as it turns out, the Panamanian nameplate is also on a sizeable loan outstanding at another club, Queen's Park Rangers, and ABC have a mortgage on their cosy old ground at Loftus Road.
At QPR, a few details have seeped out since ABC Corporation of Panama City loaned £10m last year, with which the club paid off outstanding debts, mainly to the majority shareholder, Chris Wright, and came out of administration. The interest rate was confirmed by QPR's chairman, Ross Jones, a banker, early this year, as 10 per cent annually; £1m for the near-bust West London club to find, and a nice, tax-free earner for whoever is behind ABC. The club deals with a representative of the lender in London, Philip Englefield, who under his full name of Philip Anthony Devereux Englefield is currently registered as a director of several property companies which are based in Knightsbridge.
In May 2002, as ABC's representative, Englefield was made a director of QPR, but then QPR 1st, the supporters' trust whose members have grown desperately concerned about the club's plight, discovered that in 1991 Englefield had been struck off the roll of solicitors by the Law Society. He had, the Law Society found, while a partner in a firm of solicitors in London W1, between July 1988 and June 1990, taken nearly £900,000 from the firm's clients' bank account, in 91 separate withdrawals, for payyments "of a personal nature".
At his hearing, Englefield admitted the offences, but argued in mitigation that he had been "foolish and desperate, and had not formed any intention to commit fraud." The Law Society described the hole in the firm's bank account as "of a very great magnitude", said the payments "were not made in error" and that "extraordinarily large sums of money were involved." They struck him off as a solicitor and ordered him to pay the costs of the hearing and the inquiry.
Shortly after the Trust presented the club with their discovery, on 12 July 2002, Englefield resigned from the QPR board. He is, however, still the man, registered as a legal advisor to various companies, with whom QPR deal to make their regular monthly payments of £83,333. David Davies, QPR's chief executive, confirmed that the club deals with Englefield, and said the relationship with him and ABC was similar to "any other mortgage company", and that their dealings so far had been cordial:
"We made the difficult decision to borrow the £10m or die last year because there was no other solution offering itself to enable us to come out of administration. ABC have been fair with us and they have not been predatory."
As at Derby, QPR have never disclosed who is behind ABC; Davies has said it is a Swiss trust. There were some rumours earlier this year that the ultimate lender of the money was Michael Hunt, the former managing director of Nissan UK, who in June 1993 was jailed for eight years for his part - allegedly with Octav Botnar, the company's chairman - in siphoning off £149.2m from Nissan UK and cheating the Inland Revenue out of £56.3m, Britain's largest-ever tax fraud. Witnesses to the fraud were called from Panama and Bermuda, and the money, according to the prosecution, was laundered through Swiss bank accounts.
In March this year Justin Pieris, QPR 1st chairman, wrote to Davies asking him to clarify whether the rumours that Hunt was the lender were true. Davies had previously officially denied rumours that Fulham's owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, was the lender, however this time he did not confirm or deny it, but replied that he was bound by confidentiality. Davies pointed out that in order to exit administration the club and its administrator, Ray Hocking of BDO Stoy Hayward, had had to satisfy the court that the loan came from "legitimate sources, not illegal activities, and that they had done so".
"The most important element," Davies wrote, "is ensuring the loan repayments are met, not what the background of an individual may be. The speculation over who may or may not have been involved in the affairs of Nissan(UK) contribute little to meeting those obligations."
That, indeed, is a crucial point. At both QPR and Derby, the loans have merely replaced one hefty creditor with one from Panama, leaving the clubs in the same debt and not increasing their earnings. It is believed to be costing QPR significantly more in interest, and the club is desperate for cash - Davies has budgeted for a loss around £2.5m this season and said QPR will not make it to the end of the season if no new investor comes in. If the worst happens - and Davies said all QPR's directors have to contemplate the club might go bust - the Loftus Road ground, a nice potential development site in Shepherd's Bush, will be repossessed by a Panamanian Corporation, represented here by a struck-off solicitor involved in property investment.
At Pride Park, a symbol of the game's new dawn in 1997 when football was coming home and QPR were floating on the Stock Market, Derby would not confirm the interest the stricken club will be paying on its new £15m loan to Panama, or any other details. No doubt, as at QPR, a few odd specks will come out in the wash.
ABC/a> Articles
http://qprreport.blogspot.com/search?q=abc+loan
Assuming all works out as has been reported on the boards, QPR - and QPR fans - will finally say goodbye to six years of the "mysterious" ABC Loan which was "sucking" from the club more than a million pounds a year merely in interest payments and which had/has an end-of-July repayment date.
According to posters, QPR shareholders have received a mailing seeking their approval for the ABC Loan to be paid off and the loan transferred to Amulya Property Limited, which is supposedly connected to Flavio Briatore and Amit Bhatia (beyond that, nothing has been posted about Amulya Property). The Amulya loan will reportedly be at 8.5%. It is for two years, and Loftus Road is collateral. (As the posters note, they have till August 20 to approve. The ABC loan requires to be paid on or before 31st July 2008.)
Although there are still some obvious questions about the new loan and how it's going to be paid off in two years, this will at least close one saga and reduce the annual payment by several hundred thousand pounds a year.
For year after year, club officials, board members and fans outlike all spoke harshly about the ABC loan almost since day #1 since the club left administration and announced the ABC loan back in May 2002. As former Chairman Bill Power phrased it in an interview last year "In my opinion [the ABC Loan] nearly killed us. I don’t like the phrase but, it has been like a cancer slowly draining us for years and thank god we now have a cure....it nearly killed us off." (WeAreTheRangersBoysQ&ABillPower)
Besides the various posts on the boards over the years, there have been innumerable items about ABC at the QPR1st site and also at Boardroom Blues. Also see this blog; or just google QPR and ABC.
Among the past "compilations re the ABC Loan"
- September 3, 2006 - "Refocusing on QPR's "Mysterious" ABC Loan"
- April 18, 2007 Almost Five Years Since QPR's ABC Loan, Exit Administration and Takeover Efforts Ended
May 6 2007 - QPR Statement re Blitz Loan, ABC Refinancing and Returning Loan
- QPR Report October 27, 2006 QPR's ABC Loan: What's Known #1
- QPR's Ongoing 10% per-annum ABC Loan & QPR's Efforts to Deal with it
Since last year's takeover, there were a few official comments re the ABC loan
September 2007 - Outgoing QPR Chairman Paladini interviewed by WeAreTheRangersBoys
"Q) Has the ABC loan been paid?
A: "All been paid, the club, the ground belongs to them. All responsibilities lies with them now. Its easier for them to go to their banks and get their own guarantees. We don't have to worry. The club belongs to Flavio and Bernie now.
September 25, 2007 - QPR's Former Director and continuing Legal Advisor Nick De Marco (Interview "WeAreTheRangersBoys) "...It is my understanding the new board plan a substantial commitment to the club. If the ABC loan has not already been paid when you publish this interview, I can assure you they have a professional firm of solicitors who will be dealing with this issue and it is definitely in the process of being replaced." Interview
November 18, 2007 QPR1st - EGM report November 18, 2007 The ABC Loan
Questions were raised regarding the ABC loan, how this is being dealt with and whether ABC have the right to purchase Loftus Road Stadium next summer. Regarding the potential sale of Loftus Road Stadium to ABC, Mr Agag stated he could say "categorically this is not going to happen". He said that they were still working on how they were going to deal with this issue, but that Loftus Road Stadium would stay in the company.
The club's finances will be taken forward through various different avenues including the new shareholders investment, sponsorship and future commercial and revenue streams.
In the first period there will be substantial financial investment injected but there are plans afoot for the medium and long term in which the Board and owners feel the company and club can be profitable
December 17, 2007 - Fans Consultative Committee Meeting Minutes
On Thursday 13th December, representatives from QPR 1st's Management
3e - What is the position with the Clubs' debts? Has the ABC loan been paid off?
Alejandro Agag said the following:
- that "the club debts are gone" and have been cleared, but the ABC loan still exists.
- the Board are currently still deciding on how to tackle the ABC loan.
- a decision on how to tackle it will be made within 2-3 months.
- that decision will be either getting a bank to pay back at a normal rate or to pay it off themselves.
- they will make their choice by 1st July which is when they have to sort this out by.
- the new Board and the Club are carrying out further investigations into how the ABC loan was set up and whether there is an evidence of malpractice...
- Nick De Marco reported that the Board had instructed there to be a serious investigation into the background to the ABC loan and sale of the training ground to discover if there had been any financial impropriety. " QPR1st
February 11, 2008 QPR's Financial Situation Under its New Owners: Bernie Ecclestone's Perspective- The Times/Alex Wade -
"...But if high noon at Loftus Road seemed, at times, in danger of becoming a weekly event, QPR emerged from administration in 2002 thanks to a £10 million loan from the ABC Corporation. The benevolence of the Panama-registered company came at a price – a cool £1 million in annual interest – and, until the Formula One duo turned up, seemed set to dog any attempt to escape the lower reaches of the second tier.
Yet even as Ecclestone and Co took the reins there were murmurs of disquiet. One newspaper made much of the fact that, some two months into the new regime, the ABC loan had yet to be discharged. Ecclestone is happy to set the record straight.
“We will pay the debt when we can – at the end of June this year,” he says. “That’s when the loan matures, so that’s when we can pay it back.” ” The Times
May 2008 - At the QPR AGM from May 2008 - From QPR1st
ABC Loan Alejandro Agag said -
- that the ABC loan has not yet been paid.
- that talks are continuing with a number of parties to refinance the loan before the
July 31st deadline.
- the Club are still looking for the best situation and solution.
- that the difficulty with banks is they will not give a loan to any football club.
- that the Board will pay out of their own pocket if nothing suitable is found.
-that the Club will not lose ownership of it's ground. QPR1st
THREE EARLIER PRESS ARTICLES ON QPR AND THE ABC LOAN
David Conn, The Independent, April 9, 2005 - FOOTBALL: From ABC to QPR, the tangled tale of how football gambled
Michael Hunt, the former managing director of Nissan UK, who was sentenced to eight years for his role in the largest tax fraud ever perpetrated in Britain, is, according to sources, the man behind the ABC Corporation, a Panama-registered company which has lent pounds 10m and pounds 15m to Queen's Park Rangers and Derby County respectively, and has mortgages on both Loftus Road and Pride Park.
Hunt was convicted in 1993 of conspiring to cheat the Inland Revenue, after Southwark Crown Court heard that for nine years Hunt, along with the company's chairman Octav Botnar and another director, had orchestrated a 'truly massive' tax fraud, by using bogus invoices and a sham shipping agent to siphon pounds 149.2m from the company and launder it through offshore companies, depriving the Inland Revenue of pounds 56.3m tax and pounds 36m interest.
Botnar stayed in Switzerland and refused to come back to face trial, although he later agreed a settlement with the Inland Revenue. Hunt, however, who was said by the prosecution to have made pounds 30m personally from the frauds, and another former Nissan UK director, Frank Shannon, were convicted for their parts in the scam. Hunt appealed, but his conviction and sentence were upheld in May 1994.
QPR, who had long been in administration following their financial collapse under Chris Wright's ownership, borrowed pounds 10m from the ABC Corporation in May 2002, at an interest rate of 10 per cent, pounds 1m a year, a huge amount for the once-chirpy club to pay. Companies registered in Panama, a tax haven, do not have to disclose their shareholders or directors, but in March 2003 rumours began to circulate on QPR fans' messageboards that Hunt was behind ABC.
After ABC provided the money, a 'consultant legal adviser,' Philip Englefield, became a director of QPR to represent ABC's interests on the club's board. The club's supporters' trust, QPR 1st , then discovered that in 1991 Englefield had been struck off the roll of solicitors by the Law Society for improperly taking nearly pounds 900,000 from his firm's clients' bank account.
QPR asked him to stand down, which he did, although he continued to act as ABC's contact, a role the club said he discharged professionally. Englefield, it turns out, had also been convicted of theft and fraud offences for taking pounds 4.7m from his firm's client account, and been sentenced in March 1993 to seven years in prison, reduced to six on appeal. A year later, he wrote to The Sunday Times, praising the fish and chip supper, 'the gastronomic highlight of the week' " served up on Fridays in his prison.
In October 2003, Derby County, relegated after six seasons in the Premier League and, under their former owner Lionel Pickering, sagging beneath pounds 31m debts, were suddenly put into receivership. The club and their ground were sold to a newly formed company, Sharmine Limited, and new directors were unveiled: Jeremy Keith, a 'business doctor' specialising in financially failing businesses, who had briefly been involved at Portsmouth FC before they went into administration in 1998; Steven Harding, an advertising executive, and a perhaps unlikely figure as the new chairman of Derby: John Sleightholme, a barrister and the deputy coroner for North Yorkshire.
At the time the directors said they would not reveal who owned the club, a stance they have maintained ever since. A month later, it emerged that the pounds 15m finance for their takeover had come from the same ABC Corporation, registered in Panama City.
Sleightholme had been previously involved in a venture with a former Scottish players' agent, Murdo MacKay, who, a few months later, joined Derby as the club's director of football. MacKay's own business career is somewhat chequered; he was a Fifa-registered players' agent for what he described as 11 'unblemished' years, but one of his companies, Inside Soccer Recruitment, which had a high- profile launch in 2001 and was backed by the former Rangers and England centre-back Terry Butcher among others, went bust just 18 months later, owing a large tax bill and leaving creditors, including a furious Butcher, unpaid.
From 1993 to 1996, MacKay was made personally bankrupt after the failure of another recruitment agency, MMK Associates, when 19 creditors, ranging from the Inland Revenue to a furniture loan company, were left owed pounds 157,659. MacKay has, however, said he has put that behind him and is applying his knowledge of football to reviving Derby's fortunes.
Last month, Sharmine Limited, which owns Derby, finally revealed who its owners are, but that only opened into a new layer of opaque anonymity in yet more tax havens: two of its shareholders are registered as companies in Belize, the other in the British Virgin Islands.
Sources close to the deals, however, confirmed to me this week that Michael Hunt is the ultimate source of the ABC cash. He is understood to operate a family trust registered in Switzerland, whose size, the sources said, runs into 'nine figures'. A lawyer in Basle, Dr Hans Georg Hinderling, has represented ABC Corporation in their dealings with QPR.
QPR's current board, chaired by lifelong Rangers fan Bill Power, who took the club over last year, has since been scathing about the ABC loan it inherited: 'It is scandalous,' Power told me, 'that we've been saddled with this debt, from a Panama corporation of all places, at such an outrageous interest rate.'
David Davies, the chief executive at the time the deal was done, who is now working for London Wasps Rugby Club, maintained however that QPR had no alternatives at the time: 'Looking back, yes I am uncomfortable about the loan we had to take out, but no banks would lend to us. It was a matter of keeping the club in business.'
At Derby, ABC replaced one load of debt, owed to Lombard and the Co-op Bank, with the money now owed to them. The club's directors have told the Supporters' Trust, Ramstrust, that the debts have increased another pounds 4m since they took over, to pounds 35m. Ted McMinn, the former Rams' winger who now commentates for BBC Radio Derby, has been a sceptic from the start: 'We know very little about these people, or why they took over,' he told me. 'They appear to have put no money in themselves, and the debt isn't getting smaller.'
In a meeting with Ramstrust last December, Jeremy Keith said of Michael Hunt's rumoured involvement with ABC: 'We can't categorically say who is involved,' although Michael Hunt's name was not on any documentation and was not an officer of the organisation. This week John Sleightholme said they had had no dealings with Hunt
Independent
The ABC of boardroom intrigue at Loftus Road - David Conn The Guardian - Wednesday October 19, 2005
We know plenty more now about how Chelsea were airlifted from Ken Bates' debt mountain by the billionaire from nowhere, but for their near-neighbours, Queens Park Rangers, no such outrageous fortune has delivered them from turmoil. QPR were threatened with expulsion by the Football League in 2002, having been in administration for a year, and staggered out only by clutching a £10m loan from the mysterious Panama-registered ABC Corporation, which has burdened them ever since....
...QPR are still reaping the consequences of their version of living the dream, after they were taken over and floated on the stock market in 1996 by Chris Wright, the Chrysalis music entrepreneur. He invested £10m but, in April 2001, with QPR having lost £27m, Wright put QPR into administration. A month later they were relegated to the then Second Division.
In May 2002, with the Football League insisting the club could not start the new season in administration, QPR accepted the £10m loan from the ABC Corporation, at 10%, £1m, annual interest, secured on Loftus Road. ABC's owners cannot be officially identified, but sources at QPR believe the man behind the company is Michael Hunt, the former Nissan UK director who in 1993 was sentenced to eight years in jail for his role in what was then Britain's largest tax fraud.
Loftus Road and Pride Park mortgaged to Panamanian company - David Conn - Independent, 8 November 2003
Derby follow Queen's Park Rangers in restructuring debt via faceless ABC Corporation represented by struck-off solicitor
The identity of the so-called "mystery backer" that loaned £15m to take Derby County from the Co-Op Bank's receivers a fortnight ago can now be revealed; and what could possibly reassure Derby fans more than to know their club is in debt and has mortgaged its celebrated new stadium to a faceless company registered in Panama?
Quite why the newly appointed board at Derby, led by the new chairman, John Sleightholme, a barrister and the deputy coroner of South Yorkshire, felt compelled to withhold this news when he took over at the end of last month, is unclear. Mortgages have to be registered at Companies House, and so, a few days later, a document duly appeared on the public record which succinctly stated that: "All that freehold property known as Derby County Stadium Pride Park", is mortgaged to ABC Corporation, of Calle Aquilino de la Guardia no 8, Panama City, the Republic of Panama.
This, of course, only gets anyone so far, which is one of the whole points of registering companies in Panama. The Panamanian Consulate in London proudly advertises on its website that a principal advantage for people registering "offshore corporations" in the country is that the Republic operates "the most secure confidentiality laws to be found anywhere." Companies must name officers, but these are usually lawyers working for the owners, whose identity does not have to be disclosed, and the companies do not have to file accounts or regular financial information.
The other main advantage is that a company registered in Panama which does not actually operate in the country - like ABC Corporation and most of the 350,000 other companies registered there - pay no tax except a token annual administration fee. The consulate particularly stresses the advantages for banking: "The income derived is exempt from Panamanian taxes, which is a very attractive feature."
The limited information available from the public registry in Panama City states that ABC Corporation was formed in October 1984. The address at Calle Aquilino de la Guardia is that of a law firm. Its first officers, a president, secretary and treasurer, were three Swiss lawyers, Peter Lenz, Marcel Muff and Hans Hinderling, who is a registered footballers' agent. Then in 1992 following a meeting at Hinderling's offices in Basle, the officers of the
company were changed to lawyers in another offshore tax haven, the Bahamas: Richard Lightbourne, Hartis Pinder and Lourey Smith, of the firm McKinney Bancroft and Hughes in Nassau. But that's it. The identity of the owner, or the source of the money, is hidden.
Derby themselves refused to elaborate this week, consistent with Sleightholme's statement when he took over with his fellow new directors, Steven Harding and Jeremy Keith - the prime mover of the takeover - that they would keep the source of the £15m loan confidential. A club spokesman said the loan had been "passed" by the Football Association and League, but this does not mean that the source has been disclosed or vetted in any way. The FA has no system yet for vetting football club directors - the long-promised "fit and proper person test" - let alone to examine the ever more far-flung sources of finance to which many clubs are turning as ordinary banks pull out of the game with their fingers singed.
The League did pass ABC Corporation's loan, but under a different rule, the one which prohibits one person or company having an interest in two clubs - as it turns out, the Panamanian nameplate is also on a sizeable loan outstanding at another club, Queen's Park Rangers, and ABC have a mortgage on their cosy old ground at Loftus Road.
At QPR, a few details have seeped out since ABC Corporation of Panama City loaned £10m last year, with which the club paid off outstanding debts, mainly to the majority shareholder, Chris Wright, and came out of administration. The interest rate was confirmed by QPR's chairman, Ross Jones, a banker, early this year, as 10 per cent annually; £1m for the near-bust West London club to find, and a nice, tax-free earner for whoever is behind ABC. The club deals with a representative of the lender in London, Philip Englefield, who under his full name of Philip Anthony Devereux Englefield is currently registered as a director of several property companies which are based in Knightsbridge.
In May 2002, as ABC's representative, Englefield was made a director of QPR, but then QPR 1st, the supporters' trust whose members have grown desperately concerned about the club's plight, discovered that in 1991 Englefield had been struck off the roll of solicitors by the Law Society. He had, the Law Society found, while a partner in a firm of solicitors in London W1, between July 1988 and June 1990, taken nearly £900,000 from the firm's clients' bank account, in 91 separate withdrawals, for payyments "of a personal nature".
At his hearing, Englefield admitted the offences, but argued in mitigation that he had been "foolish and desperate, and had not formed any intention to commit fraud." The Law Society described the hole in the firm's bank account as "of a very great magnitude", said the payments "were not made in error" and that "extraordinarily large sums of money were involved." They struck him off as a solicitor and ordered him to pay the costs of the hearing and the inquiry.
Shortly after the Trust presented the club with their discovery, on 12 July 2002, Englefield resigned from the QPR board. He is, however, still the man, registered as a legal advisor to various companies, with whom QPR deal to make their regular monthly payments of £83,333. David Davies, QPR's chief executive, confirmed that the club deals with Englefield, and said the relationship with him and ABC was similar to "any other mortgage company", and that their dealings so far had been cordial:
"We made the difficult decision to borrow the £10m or die last year because there was no other solution offering itself to enable us to come out of administration. ABC have been fair with us and they have not been predatory."
As at Derby, QPR have never disclosed who is behind ABC; Davies has said it is a Swiss trust. There were some rumours earlier this year that the ultimate lender of the money was Michael Hunt, the former managing director of Nissan UK, who in June 1993 was jailed for eight years for his part - allegedly with Octav Botnar, the company's chairman - in siphoning off £149.2m from Nissan UK and cheating the Inland Revenue out of £56.3m, Britain's largest-ever tax fraud. Witnesses to the fraud were called from Panama and Bermuda, and the money, according to the prosecution, was laundered through Swiss bank accounts.
In March this year Justin Pieris, QPR 1st chairman, wrote to Davies asking him to clarify whether the rumours that Hunt was the lender were true. Davies had previously officially denied rumours that Fulham's owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, was the lender, however this time he did not confirm or deny it, but replied that he was bound by confidentiality. Davies pointed out that in order to exit administration the club and its administrator, Ray Hocking of BDO Stoy Hayward, had had to satisfy the court that the loan came from "legitimate sources, not illegal activities, and that they had done so".
"The most important element," Davies wrote, "is ensuring the loan repayments are met, not what the background of an individual may be. The speculation over who may or may not have been involved in the affairs of Nissan(UK) contribute little to meeting those obligations."
That, indeed, is a crucial point. At both QPR and Derby, the loans have merely replaced one hefty creditor with one from Panama, leaving the clubs in the same debt and not increasing their earnings. It is believed to be costing QPR significantly more in interest, and the club is desperate for cash - Davies has budgeted for a loss around £2.5m this season and said QPR will not make it to the end of the season if no new investor comes in. If the worst happens - and Davies said all QPR's directors have to contemplate the club might go bust - the Loftus Road ground, a nice potential development site in Shepherd's Bush, will be repossessed by a Panamanian Corporation, represented here by a struck-off solicitor involved in property investment.
At Pride Park, a symbol of the game's new dawn in 1997 when football was coming home and QPR were floating on the Stock Market, Derby would not confirm the interest the stricken club will be paying on its new £15m loan to Panama, or any other details. No doubt, as at QPR, a few odd specks will come out in the wash.
ABC/a> Articles
http://qprreport.blogspot.com/search?q=abc+loan
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Refocusing on QPR's "Mysterious" ABC Loan
-
In May 2002 QPR exited Administration with a 10 year, 10 Million pound, 10% per year loan from the mysterious ABC...Over the past years, there have been a number of stories about QPR (and also Derby County's) ABC Loan, and who the people behind it may be. A few months ago, local Derby County "investors" bought out the ABC Loan.
The issue of the ABC Loan and how to get out of it, has been repeatedly asked in the various meetings & Q&As with current and past QPR Chairmen
Also See For Past QPR statements re the Loan
David Conn, The Independent, April 9, 2005
FOOTBALL: From ABC to QPR, the tangled tale of how football gambled
Michael Hunt, the former managing director of Nissan UK, who was sentenced to eight years for his role in the largest tax fraud ever perpetrated in Britain, is, according to sources, the man behind the ABC Corporation, a Panama-registered company which has lent pounds 10m and pounds 15m to Queen's Park Rangers and Derby County respectively, and has mortgages on both Loftus Road and Pride Park.
Hunt was convicted in 1993 of conspiring to cheat the Inland Revenue, after Southwark Crown Court heard that for nine years Hunt, along with the company's chairman Octav Botnar and another director, had orchestrated a 'truly massive' tax fraud, by using bogus invoices and a sham shipping agent to siphon pounds 149.2m from the company and launder it through offshore companies, depriving the Inland Revenue of pounds 56.3m tax and pounds 36m interest.
Botnar stayed in Switzerland and refused to come back to face trial, although he later agreed a settlement with the Inland Revenue. Hunt, however, who was said by the prosecution to have made pounds 30m personally from the frauds, and another former Nissan UK director, Frank Shannon, were convicted for their parts in the scam. Hunt appealed, but his conviction and sentence were upheld in May 1994.
QPR, who had long been in administration following their financial collapse under Chris Wright's ownership, borrowed pounds 10m from the ABC Corporation in May 2002, at an interest rate of 10 per cent, pounds 1m a year, a huge amount for the once-chirpy club to pay. Companies registered in Panama, a tax haven, do not have to disclose their shareholders or directors, but in March 2003 rumours began to circulate on QPR fans' messageboards that Hunt was behind ABC.
After ABC provided the money, a 'consultant legal adviser,' Philip Englefield, became a director of QPR to represent ABC's interests on the club's board. The club's supporters' trust, QPR 1st , then discovered that in 1991 Englefield had been struck off the roll of solicitors by the Law Society for improperly taking nearly pounds 900,000 from his firm's clients' bank account.
QPR asked him to stand down, which he did, although he continued to act as ABC's contact, a role the club said he discharged professionally. Englefield, it turns out, had also been convicted of theft and fraud offences for taking pounds 4.7m from his firm's client account, and been sentenced in March 1993 to seven years in prison, reduced to six on appeal. A year later, he wrote to The Sunday Times, praising the fish and chip supper, 'the gastronomic highlight of the week' " served up on Fridays in his prison.
In October 2003, Derby County, relegated after six seasons in the Premier League and, under their former owner Lionel Pickering, sagging beneath pounds 31m debts, were suddenly put into receivership. The club and their ground were sold to a newly formed company, Sharmine Limited, and new directors were unveiled: Jeremy Keith, a 'business doctor' specialising in financially failing businesses, who had briefly been involved at Portsmouth FC before they went into administration in 1998; Steven Harding, an advertising executive, and a perhaps unlikely figure as the new chairman of Derby: John Sleightholme, a barrister and the deputy coroner for North Yorkshire.
At the time the directors said they would not reveal who owned the club, a stance they have maintained ever since. A month later, it emerged that the pounds 15m finance for their takeover had come from the same ABC Corporation, registered in Panama City.
Sleightholme had been previously involved in a venture with a former Scottish players' agent, Murdo MacKay, who, a few months later, joined Derby as the club's director of football. MacKay's own business career is somewhat chequered; he was a Fifa-registered players' agent for what he described as 11 'unblemished' years, but one of his companies, Inside Soccer Recruitment, which had a high- profile launch in 2001 and was backed by the former Rangers and England centre-back Terry Butcher among others, went bust just 18 months later, owing a large tax bill and leaving creditors, including a furious Butcher, unpaid.
From 1993 to 1996, MacKay was made personally bankrupt after the failure of another recruitment agency, MMK Associates, when 19 creditors, ranging from the Inland Revenue to a furniture loan company, were left owed pounds 157,659. MacKay has, however, said he has put that behind him and is applying his knowledge of football to reviving Derby's fortunes.
Last month, Sharmine Limited, which owns Derby, finally revealed who its owners are, but that only opened into a new layer of opaque anonymity in yet more tax havens: two of its shareholders are registered as companies in Belize, the other in the British Virgin Islands.
Sources close to the deals, however, confirmed to me this week that Michael Hunt is the ultimate source of the ABC cash. He is understood to operate a family trust registered in Switzerland, whose size, the sources said, runs into 'nine figures'. A lawyer in Basle, Dr Hans Georg Hinderling, has represented ABC Corporation in their dealings with QPR.
QPR's current board, chaired by lifelong Rangers fan Bill Power, who took the club over last year, has since been scathing about the ABC loan it inherited: 'It is scandalous,' Power told me, 'that we've been saddled with this debt, from a Panama corporation of all places, at such an outrageous interest rate.'
David Davies, the chief executive at the time the deal was done, who is now working for London Wasps Rugby Club, maintained however that QPR had no alternatives at the time: 'Looking back, yes I am uncomfortable about the loan we had to take out, but no banks would lend to us. It was a matter of keeping the club in business.'
At Derby, ABC replaced one load of debt, owed to Lombard and the Co-op Bank, with the money now owed to them. The club's directors have told the Supporters' Trust, Ramstrust, that the debts have increased another pounds 4m since they took over, to pounds 35m. Ted McMinn, the former Rams' winger who now commentates for BBC Radio Derby, has been a sceptic from the start: 'We know very little about these people, or why they took over,' he told me. 'They appear to have put no money in themselves, and the debt isn't getting smaller.'
In a meeting with Ramstrust last December, Jeremy Keith said of Michael Hunt's rumoured involvement with ABC: 'We can't categorically say who is involved,' although Michael Hunt's name was not on any documentation and was not an officer of the organisation. This week John Sleightholme said they had had no dealings with Hunt
Independent
The ABC of boardroom intrigue at Loftus Road
David Conn, sports news reporter of the year
The Guardian - Wednesday October 19, 2005
We know plenty more now about how Chelsea were airlifted from Ken Bates' debt mountain by the billionaire from nowhere, but for their near-neighbours, Queens Park Rangers, no such outrageous fortune has delivered them from turmoil. QPR were threatened with expulsion by the Football League in 2002, having been in administration for a year, and staggered out only by clutching a £10m loan from the mysterious Panama-registered ABC Corporation, which has burdened them ever since....
...QPR are still reaping the consequences of their version of living the dream, after they were taken over and floated on the stock market in 1996 by Chris Wright, the Chrysalis music entrepreneur. He invested £10m but, in April 2001, with QPR having lost £27m, Wright put QPR into administration. A month later they were relegated to the then Second Division.
In May 2002, with the Football League insisting the club could not start the new season in administration, QPR accepted the £10m loan from the ABC Corporation, at 10%, £1m, annual interest, secured on Loftus Road. ABC's owners cannot be officially identified, but sources at QPR believe the man behind the company is Michael Hunt, the former Nissan UK director who in 1993 was sentenced to eight years in jail for his role in what was then Britain's largest tax fraud.
Guardian
Loftus Road and Pride Park mortgaged to Panamanian company
David Conn - Independent, 8 November 2003
Derby follow Queen's Park Rangers in restructuring debt via faceless ABC Corporation represented by struck-off solicitor
The identity of the so-called "mystery backer" that loaned £15m to take Derby County from the Co-Op Bank's receivers a fortnight ago can now be revealed; and what could possibly reassure Derby fans more than to know their club is in debt and has mortgaged its celebrated new stadium to a faceless company registered in Panama?
Quite why the newly appointed board at Derby, led by the new chairman, John Sleightholme, a barrister and the deputy coroner of South Yorkshire, felt compelled to withhold this news when he took over at the end of last month, is unclear. Mortgages have to be registered at Companies House, and so, a few days later, a document duly appeared on the public record which succinctly stated that: "All that freehold property known as Derby County Stadium Pride Park", is mortgaged to ABC Corporation, of Calle Aquilino de la Guardia no 8, Panama City, the Republic of Panama.
This, of course, only gets anyone so far, which is one of the whole points of registering companies in Panama. The Panamanian Consulate in London proudly advertises on its website that a principal advantage for people registering "offshore corporations" in the country is that the Republic operates "the most secure confidentiality laws to be found anywhere." Companies must name officers, but these are usually lawyers working for the owners, whose identity does not have to be disclosed, and the companies do not have to file accounts or regular financial information.
The other main advantage is that a company registered in Panama which does not actually operate in the country - like ABC Corporation and most of the 350,000 other companies registered there - pay no tax except a token annual administration fee. The consulate particularly stresses the advantages for banking: "The income derived is exempt from Panamanian taxes, which is a very attractive feature."
The limited information available from the public registry in Panama City states that ABC Corporation was formed in October 1984. The address at Calle Aquilino de la Guardia is that of a law firm. Its first officers, a president, secretary and treasurer, were three Swiss lawyers, Peter Lenz, Marcel Muff and Hans Hinderling, who is a registered footballers' agent. Then in 1992 following a meeting at Hinderling's offices in Basle, the officers of the
company were changed to lawyers in another offshore tax haven, the Bahamas: Richard Lightbourne, Hartis Pinder and Lourey Smith, of the firm McKinney Bancroft and Hughes in Nassau. But that's it. The identity of the owner, or the source of the money, is hidden.
Derby themselves refused to elaborate this week, consistent with Sleightholme's statement when he took over with his fellow new directors, Steven Harding and Jeremy Keith - the prime mover of the takeover - that they would keep the source of the £15m loan confidential. A club spokesman said the loan had been "passed" by the Football Association and League, but this does not mean that the source has been disclosed or vetted in any way. The FA has no system yet for vetting football club directors - the long-promised "fit and proper person test" - let alone to examine the ever more far-flung sources of finance to which many clubs are turning as ordinary banks pull out of the game with their fingers singed.
The League did pass ABC Corporation's loan, but under a different rule, the one which prohibits one person or company having an interest in two clubs - as it turns out, the Panamanian nameplate is also on a sizeable loan outstanding at another club, Queen's Park Rangers, and ABC have a mortgage on their cosy old ground at Loftus Road.
At QPR, a few details have seeped out since ABC Corporation of Panama City loaned £10m last year, with which the club paid off outstanding debts, mainly to the majority shareholder, Chris Wright, and came out of administration. The interest rate was confirmed by QPR's chairman, Ross Jones, a banker, early this year, as 10 per cent annually; £1m for the near-bust West London club to find, and a nice, tax-free earner for whoever is behind ABC. The club deals with a representative of the lender in London, Philip Englefield, who under his full name of Philip Anthony Devereux Englefield is currently registered as a director of several property companies which are based in Knightsbridge.
In May 2002, as ABC's representative, Englefield was made a director of QPR, but then QPR 1st, the supporters' trust whose members have grown desperately concerned about the club's plight, discovered that in 1991 Englefield had been struck off the roll of solicitors by the Law Society. He had, the Law Society found, while a partner in a firm of solicitors in London W1, between July 1988 and June 1990, taken nearly £900,000 from the firm's clients' bank account, in 91 separate withdrawals, for payyments "of a personal nature".
At his hearing, Englefield admitted the offences, but argued in mitigation that he had been "foolish and desperate, and had not formed any intention to commit fraud." The Law Society described the hole in the firm's bank account as "of a very great magnitude", said the payments "were not made in error" and that "extraordinarily large sums of money were involved." They struck him off as a solicitor and ordered him to pay the costs of the hearing and the inquiry.
Shortly after the Trust presented the club with their discovery, on 12 July 2002, Englefield resigned from the QPR board. He is, however, still the man, registered as a legal advisor to various companies, with whom QPR deal to make their regular monthly payments of £83,333. David Davies, QPR's chief executive, confirmed that the club deals with Englefield, and said the relationship with him and ABC was similar to "any other mortgage company", and that their dealings so far had been cordial:
"We made the difficult decision to borrow the £10m or die last year because there was no other solution offering itself to enable us to come out of administration. ABC have been fair with us and they have not been predatory."
As at Derby, QPR have never disclosed who is behind ABC; Davies has said it is a Swiss trust. There were some rumours earlier this year that the ultimate lender of the money was Michael Hunt, the former managing director of Nissan UK, who in June 1993 was jailed for eight years for his part - allegedly with Octav Botnar, the company's chairman - in siphoning off £149.2m from Nissan UK and cheating the Inland Revenue out of £56.3m, Britain's largest-ever tax fraud. Witnesses to the fraud were called from Panama and Bermuda, and the money, according to the prosecution, was laundered through Swiss bank accounts.
In March this year Justin Pieris, QPR 1st chairman, wrote to Davies asking him to clarify whether the rumours that Hunt was the lender were true. Davies had previously officially denied rumours that Fulham's owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, was the lender, however this time he did not confirm or deny it, but replied that he was bound by confidentiality. Davies pointed out that in order to exit administration the club and its administrator, Ray Hocking of BDO Stoy Hayward, had had to satisfy the court that the loan came from "legitimate sources, not illegal activities, and that they had done so".
"The most important element," Davies wrote, "is ensuring the loan repayments are met, not what the background of an individual may be. The speculation over who may or may not have been involved in the affairs of Nissan(UK) contribute little to meeting those obligations."
That, indeed, is a crucial point. At both QPR and Derby, the loans have merely replaced one hefty creditor with one from Panama, leaving the clubs in the same debt and not increasing their earnings. It is believed to be costing QPR significantly more in interest, and the club is desperate for cash - Davies has budgeted for a loss around £2.5m this season and said QPR will not make it to the end of the season if no new investor comes in. If the worst happens - and Davies said all QPR's directors have to contemplate the club might go bust - the Loftus Road ground, a nice potential development site in Shepherd's Bush, will be repossessed by a Panamanian Corporation, represented here by a struck-off solicitor involved in property investment.
At Pride Park, a symbol of the game's new dawn in 1997 when football was coming home and QPR were floating on the Stock Market, Derby would not confirm the interest the stricken club will be paying on its new £15m loan to Panama, or any other details. No doubt, as at QPR, a few odd specks will come out in the wash.
ABC/a>
QPR CHAIRMAN GIANNI PALADINI - JUNE 2006
"...As I still get asked about the ABC loan I would like to tell the fans and shareholders that we are hoping to replace the ABC loan in the near future with a cheaper loan from a more reputable financial institution.
What do we know about the ABC Corporation? Unfortunately very little, we have suspicions, but we can't prove who the controlling interest behind the ABC Corporation is.
The ABC Corporation's lack of transparency means that the Board must question their motives and their attitude towards the club which is why the Board wish to refinance the ABC loan. We will be reviewing the legality of the ABC loan.
QPR Statement "Gianni Speaks"
See Also
Boardroom Blues re ABC Loan
QPR1st - 2083 QPR fans per game worth of gate money just to service the ABC Corp interest!
March 2003 QPR1st-David Davies Interexchange re ABC Loan
QPR 1st - October 2005 Meeting with QPR Chairman Paladini
Derby County Fans Own Interest in ABC Loan at RamsTrust
<strong>Looking back...
April 2, 2001 BBC: "QPR put into administration"
BBC -April 3, 2001 "Rangers Safe Say Administrators
BBC - QPR Fans Hopeful For the Future
In May 2002 QPR exited Administration with a 10 year, 10 Million pound, 10% per year loan from the mysterious ABC...Over the past years, there have been a number of stories about QPR (and also Derby County's) ABC Loan, and who the people behind it may be. A few months ago, local Derby County "investors" bought out the ABC Loan.
The issue of the ABC Loan and how to get out of it, has been repeatedly asked in the various meetings & Q&As with current and past QPR Chairmen
Also See For Past QPR statements re the Loan
David Conn, The Independent, April 9, 2005
FOOTBALL: From ABC to QPR, the tangled tale of how football gambled
Michael Hunt, the former managing director of Nissan UK, who was sentenced to eight years for his role in the largest tax fraud ever perpetrated in Britain, is, according to sources, the man behind the ABC Corporation, a Panama-registered company which has lent pounds 10m and pounds 15m to Queen's Park Rangers and Derby County respectively, and has mortgages on both Loftus Road and Pride Park.
Hunt was convicted in 1993 of conspiring to cheat the Inland Revenue, after Southwark Crown Court heard that for nine years Hunt, along with the company's chairman Octav Botnar and another director, had orchestrated a 'truly massive' tax fraud, by using bogus invoices and a sham shipping agent to siphon pounds 149.2m from the company and launder it through offshore companies, depriving the Inland Revenue of pounds 56.3m tax and pounds 36m interest.
Botnar stayed in Switzerland and refused to come back to face trial, although he later agreed a settlement with the Inland Revenue. Hunt, however, who was said by the prosecution to have made pounds 30m personally from the frauds, and another former Nissan UK director, Frank Shannon, were convicted for their parts in the scam. Hunt appealed, but his conviction and sentence were upheld in May 1994.
QPR, who had long been in administration following their financial collapse under Chris Wright's ownership, borrowed pounds 10m from the ABC Corporation in May 2002, at an interest rate of 10 per cent, pounds 1m a year, a huge amount for the once-chirpy club to pay. Companies registered in Panama, a tax haven, do not have to disclose their shareholders or directors, but in March 2003 rumours began to circulate on QPR fans' messageboards that Hunt was behind ABC.
After ABC provided the money, a 'consultant legal adviser,' Philip Englefield, became a director of QPR to represent ABC's interests on the club's board. The club's supporters' trust, QPR 1st , then discovered that in 1991 Englefield had been struck off the roll of solicitors by the Law Society for improperly taking nearly pounds 900,000 from his firm's clients' bank account.
QPR asked him to stand down, which he did, although he continued to act as ABC's contact, a role the club said he discharged professionally. Englefield, it turns out, had also been convicted of theft and fraud offences for taking pounds 4.7m from his firm's client account, and been sentenced in March 1993 to seven years in prison, reduced to six on appeal. A year later, he wrote to The Sunday Times, praising the fish and chip supper, 'the gastronomic highlight of the week' " served up on Fridays in his prison.
In October 2003, Derby County, relegated after six seasons in the Premier League and, under their former owner Lionel Pickering, sagging beneath pounds 31m debts, were suddenly put into receivership. The club and their ground were sold to a newly formed company, Sharmine Limited, and new directors were unveiled: Jeremy Keith, a 'business doctor' specialising in financially failing businesses, who had briefly been involved at Portsmouth FC before they went into administration in 1998; Steven Harding, an advertising executive, and a perhaps unlikely figure as the new chairman of Derby: John Sleightholme, a barrister and the deputy coroner for North Yorkshire.
At the time the directors said they would not reveal who owned the club, a stance they have maintained ever since. A month later, it emerged that the pounds 15m finance for their takeover had come from the same ABC Corporation, registered in Panama City.
Sleightholme had been previously involved in a venture with a former Scottish players' agent, Murdo MacKay, who, a few months later, joined Derby as the club's director of football. MacKay's own business career is somewhat chequered; he was a Fifa-registered players' agent for what he described as 11 'unblemished' years, but one of his companies, Inside Soccer Recruitment, which had a high- profile launch in 2001 and was backed by the former Rangers and England centre-back Terry Butcher among others, went bust just 18 months later, owing a large tax bill and leaving creditors, including a furious Butcher, unpaid.
From 1993 to 1996, MacKay was made personally bankrupt after the failure of another recruitment agency, MMK Associates, when 19 creditors, ranging from the Inland Revenue to a furniture loan company, were left owed pounds 157,659. MacKay has, however, said he has put that behind him and is applying his knowledge of football to reviving Derby's fortunes.
Last month, Sharmine Limited, which owns Derby, finally revealed who its owners are, but that only opened into a new layer of opaque anonymity in yet more tax havens: two of its shareholders are registered as companies in Belize, the other in the British Virgin Islands.
Sources close to the deals, however, confirmed to me this week that Michael Hunt is the ultimate source of the ABC cash. He is understood to operate a family trust registered in Switzerland, whose size, the sources said, runs into 'nine figures'. A lawyer in Basle, Dr Hans Georg Hinderling, has represented ABC Corporation in their dealings with QPR.
QPR's current board, chaired by lifelong Rangers fan Bill Power, who took the club over last year, has since been scathing about the ABC loan it inherited: 'It is scandalous,' Power told me, 'that we've been saddled with this debt, from a Panama corporation of all places, at such an outrageous interest rate.'
David Davies, the chief executive at the time the deal was done, who is now working for London Wasps Rugby Club, maintained however that QPR had no alternatives at the time: 'Looking back, yes I am uncomfortable about the loan we had to take out, but no banks would lend to us. It was a matter of keeping the club in business.'
At Derby, ABC replaced one load of debt, owed to Lombard and the Co-op Bank, with the money now owed to them. The club's directors have told the Supporters' Trust, Ramstrust, that the debts have increased another pounds 4m since they took over, to pounds 35m. Ted McMinn, the former Rams' winger who now commentates for BBC Radio Derby, has been a sceptic from the start: 'We know very little about these people, or why they took over,' he told me. 'They appear to have put no money in themselves, and the debt isn't getting smaller.'
In a meeting with Ramstrust last December, Jeremy Keith said of Michael Hunt's rumoured involvement with ABC: 'We can't categorically say who is involved,' although Michael Hunt's name was not on any documentation and was not an officer of the organisation. This week John Sleightholme said they had had no dealings with Hunt
Independent
The ABC of boardroom intrigue at Loftus Road
David Conn, sports news reporter of the year
The Guardian - Wednesday October 19, 2005
We know plenty more now about how Chelsea were airlifted from Ken Bates' debt mountain by the billionaire from nowhere, but for their near-neighbours, Queens Park Rangers, no such outrageous fortune has delivered them from turmoil. QPR were threatened with expulsion by the Football League in 2002, having been in administration for a year, and staggered out only by clutching a £10m loan from the mysterious Panama-registered ABC Corporation, which has burdened them ever since....
...QPR are still reaping the consequences of their version of living the dream, after they were taken over and floated on the stock market in 1996 by Chris Wright, the Chrysalis music entrepreneur. He invested £10m but, in April 2001, with QPR having lost £27m, Wright put QPR into administration. A month later they were relegated to the then Second Division.
In May 2002, with the Football League insisting the club could not start the new season in administration, QPR accepted the £10m loan from the ABC Corporation, at 10%, £1m, annual interest, secured on Loftus Road. ABC's owners cannot be officially identified, but sources at QPR believe the man behind the company is Michael Hunt, the former Nissan UK director who in 1993 was sentenced to eight years in jail for his role in what was then Britain's largest tax fraud.
Guardian
Loftus Road and Pride Park mortgaged to Panamanian company
David Conn - Independent, 8 November 2003
Derby follow Queen's Park Rangers in restructuring debt via faceless ABC Corporation represented by struck-off solicitor
The identity of the so-called "mystery backer" that loaned £15m to take Derby County from the Co-Op Bank's receivers a fortnight ago can now be revealed; and what could possibly reassure Derby fans more than to know their club is in debt and has mortgaged its celebrated new stadium to a faceless company registered in Panama?
Quite why the newly appointed board at Derby, led by the new chairman, John Sleightholme, a barrister and the deputy coroner of South Yorkshire, felt compelled to withhold this news when he took over at the end of last month, is unclear. Mortgages have to be registered at Companies House, and so, a few days later, a document duly appeared on the public record which succinctly stated that: "All that freehold property known as Derby County Stadium Pride Park", is mortgaged to ABC Corporation, of Calle Aquilino de la Guardia no 8, Panama City, the Republic of Panama.
This, of course, only gets anyone so far, which is one of the whole points of registering companies in Panama. The Panamanian Consulate in London proudly advertises on its website that a principal advantage for people registering "offshore corporations" in the country is that the Republic operates "the most secure confidentiality laws to be found anywhere." Companies must name officers, but these are usually lawyers working for the owners, whose identity does not have to be disclosed, and the companies do not have to file accounts or regular financial information.
The other main advantage is that a company registered in Panama which does not actually operate in the country - like ABC Corporation and most of the 350,000 other companies registered there - pay no tax except a token annual administration fee. The consulate particularly stresses the advantages for banking: "The income derived is exempt from Panamanian taxes, which is a very attractive feature."
The limited information available from the public registry in Panama City states that ABC Corporation was formed in October 1984. The address at Calle Aquilino de la Guardia is that of a law firm. Its first officers, a president, secretary and treasurer, were three Swiss lawyers, Peter Lenz, Marcel Muff and Hans Hinderling, who is a registered footballers' agent. Then in 1992 following a meeting at Hinderling's offices in Basle, the officers of the
company were changed to lawyers in another offshore tax haven, the Bahamas: Richard Lightbourne, Hartis Pinder and Lourey Smith, of the firm McKinney Bancroft and Hughes in Nassau. But that's it. The identity of the owner, or the source of the money, is hidden.
Derby themselves refused to elaborate this week, consistent with Sleightholme's statement when he took over with his fellow new directors, Steven Harding and Jeremy Keith - the prime mover of the takeover - that they would keep the source of the £15m loan confidential. A club spokesman said the loan had been "passed" by the Football Association and League, but this does not mean that the source has been disclosed or vetted in any way. The FA has no system yet for vetting football club directors - the long-promised "fit and proper person test" - let alone to examine the ever more far-flung sources of finance to which many clubs are turning as ordinary banks pull out of the game with their fingers singed.
The League did pass ABC Corporation's loan, but under a different rule, the one which prohibits one person or company having an interest in two clubs - as it turns out, the Panamanian nameplate is also on a sizeable loan outstanding at another club, Queen's Park Rangers, and ABC have a mortgage on their cosy old ground at Loftus Road.
At QPR, a few details have seeped out since ABC Corporation of Panama City loaned £10m last year, with which the club paid off outstanding debts, mainly to the majority shareholder, Chris Wright, and came out of administration. The interest rate was confirmed by QPR's chairman, Ross Jones, a banker, early this year, as 10 per cent annually; £1m for the near-bust West London club to find, and a nice, tax-free earner for whoever is behind ABC. The club deals with a representative of the lender in London, Philip Englefield, who under his full name of Philip Anthony Devereux Englefield is currently registered as a director of several property companies which are based in Knightsbridge.
In May 2002, as ABC's representative, Englefield was made a director of QPR, but then QPR 1st, the supporters' trust whose members have grown desperately concerned about the club's plight, discovered that in 1991 Englefield had been struck off the roll of solicitors by the Law Society. He had, the Law Society found, while a partner in a firm of solicitors in London W1, between July 1988 and June 1990, taken nearly £900,000 from the firm's clients' bank account, in 91 separate withdrawals, for payyments "of a personal nature".
At his hearing, Englefield admitted the offences, but argued in mitigation that he had been "foolish and desperate, and had not formed any intention to commit fraud." The Law Society described the hole in the firm's bank account as "of a very great magnitude", said the payments "were not made in error" and that "extraordinarily large sums of money were involved." They struck him off as a solicitor and ordered him to pay the costs of the hearing and the inquiry.
Shortly after the Trust presented the club with their discovery, on 12 July 2002, Englefield resigned from the QPR board. He is, however, still the man, registered as a legal advisor to various companies, with whom QPR deal to make their regular monthly payments of £83,333. David Davies, QPR's chief executive, confirmed that the club deals with Englefield, and said the relationship with him and ABC was similar to "any other mortgage company", and that their dealings so far had been cordial:
"We made the difficult decision to borrow the £10m or die last year because there was no other solution offering itself to enable us to come out of administration. ABC have been fair with us and they have not been predatory."
As at Derby, QPR have never disclosed who is behind ABC; Davies has said it is a Swiss trust. There were some rumours earlier this year that the ultimate lender of the money was Michael Hunt, the former managing director of Nissan UK, who in June 1993 was jailed for eight years for his part - allegedly with Octav Botnar, the company's chairman - in siphoning off £149.2m from Nissan UK and cheating the Inland Revenue out of £56.3m, Britain's largest-ever tax fraud. Witnesses to the fraud were called from Panama and Bermuda, and the money, according to the prosecution, was laundered through Swiss bank accounts.
In March this year Justin Pieris, QPR 1st chairman, wrote to Davies asking him to clarify whether the rumours that Hunt was the lender were true. Davies had previously officially denied rumours that Fulham's owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, was the lender, however this time he did not confirm or deny it, but replied that he was bound by confidentiality. Davies pointed out that in order to exit administration the club and its administrator, Ray Hocking of BDO Stoy Hayward, had had to satisfy the court that the loan came from "legitimate sources, not illegal activities, and that they had done so".
"The most important element," Davies wrote, "is ensuring the loan repayments are met, not what the background of an individual may be. The speculation over who may or may not have been involved in the affairs of Nissan(UK) contribute little to meeting those obligations."
That, indeed, is a crucial point. At both QPR and Derby, the loans have merely replaced one hefty creditor with one from Panama, leaving the clubs in the same debt and not increasing their earnings. It is believed to be costing QPR significantly more in interest, and the club is desperate for cash - Davies has budgeted for a loss around £2.5m this season and said QPR will not make it to the end of the season if no new investor comes in. If the worst happens - and Davies said all QPR's directors have to contemplate the club might go bust - the Loftus Road ground, a nice potential development site in Shepherd's Bush, will be repossessed by a Panamanian Corporation, represented here by a struck-off solicitor involved in property investment.
At Pride Park, a symbol of the game's new dawn in 1997 when football was coming home and QPR were floating on the Stock Market, Derby would not confirm the interest the stricken club will be paying on its new £15m loan to Panama, or any other details. No doubt, as at QPR, a few odd specks will come out in the wash.
ABC/a>
QPR CHAIRMAN GIANNI PALADINI - JUNE 2006
"...As I still get asked about the ABC loan I would like to tell the fans and shareholders that we are hoping to replace the ABC loan in the near future with a cheaper loan from a more reputable financial institution.
What do we know about the ABC Corporation? Unfortunately very little, we have suspicions, but we can't prove who the controlling interest behind the ABC Corporation is.
The ABC Corporation's lack of transparency means that the Board must question their motives and their attitude towards the club which is why the Board wish to refinance the ABC loan. We will be reviewing the legality of the ABC loan.
QPR Statement "Gianni Speaks"
See Also
Boardroom Blues re ABC Loan
QPR1st - 2083 QPR fans per game worth of gate money just to service the ABC Corp interest!
March 2003 QPR1st-David Davies Interexchange re ABC Loan
QPR 1st - October 2005 Meeting with QPR Chairman Paladini
Derby County Fans Own Interest in ABC Loan at RamsTrust
<strong>Looking back...
April 2, 2001 BBC: "QPR put into administration"
BBC -April 3, 2001 "Rangers Safe Say Administrators
BBC - QPR Fans Hopeful For the Future
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
ABCs - Derby County and QPR: Two Diverging Paths (Thus Far!)
-
For some QPR supporters (and probably some QPR Board Members) ABC has been on their mind this week.
A year ago, there were two struggling Championship sides, both with massive loans at high interest rates, from the mysterious "ABC Corporation." Over the past few years, both clubs' (varying) boards and their supporters spoke frequently about their debts to ABC and even about their "mystery" about who was behind the ABC Group.
And then the teams diverged both on and off the field. In 2005-06, the two teams struggled and both finished on 50 points (with Derby having a one goal better goal difference than QPR - 2005-06 Table This season, after last season's struggle, Derby County finished third and earlier this week won their playoff final at Wembley to reach the Premiership. Derby Count have thus won the sixty Million Pound "Jackpot" - See "The Times - Derby Gamble Hits the Jackpot"
QPR, for their part, struggled last season and they struggled even more this season, and just escaped the drop to "League One."
Off the field: Derby County got out of their ABC Loan, by getting new loans from more local sources and paying off the old ABC loans, while QPR supporters and board have spoken frequently about the ABC Loan (10 million pound at 10% payable 10 years after the loan was taken on), about trying to get new lenders, but at this writing remain in debt to ABC (and there remains a mystery about exactly who ABC are)
For QPR: the ABC is attaining is a certain urgency since according to "reports" and "common knowledge" at the five year mark of the loan (which has just been reached), there is supposedly an ability on the part of ABC to raise the interest rate on the loan; and an ability by QPR to pay off the debt (if they can get the loan from someone else at a lower interest rate).
The irony of course is that QPR are managed by the former manager of Derby County, John Gregory. And the Chairman of QPR, Gianni Paladini at one time (before buying into QPR), was interested in buying into Derby County.
The latest QPR pronouncement re ABC came earlier this month when the club made a statement re the ABC Loan and Oldham Chairman Simon Blitz
"...Queens Park Rangers FC have been involved in discussions with Simon Blitz about possibilities of re-financing the ABC loan at a better interest rate for QPR.
As part of those negotiations, and by way of a down-payment to demonstrate his interest in assisting with this in the future, Mr Blitz agreed to loan QPR £500,000.
It was agreed that the loan was not in violation of the Football Association or Football League rules.
Mr Blitz, as the lending party, assured QPR that he was satisfied, having received his own legal advice, that the loan did not violate any football rules.
The loan, and the security for the loan was not hidden and was made public by the registration of the security at Companies House.
Contrary to press reports, the loan was not made to help QPR with its payroll, but was made in the context of the ABC re-financing discussions.
Having taken further advice, and having discovered that Simon Blitz did not have the prior written authorisation of the F.A. to make this loan, QPR has agreed to pay the loan back forthwith.
QPR would like to assure its supporters that it has no intention of selling Lee Cook, and the fact that the proceeds of any future sale was offered as a security does not suggest this.
Mr Blitz had no say in any potential sale of Lee Cook, and now it is agreed to repay the loan he will not have a security over him.
QPR will continue to work hard to try and re-finance the ABC loan in the near future.
The contents of this statement have been shown to Simon Blitz and agreed by him. It will also been sent to the Football Association. QPR Report
See: QPR Report: May 2007: Almost Five Years Since QPR's ABC Loan, Exit Administration and Takeover Efforts Ended
October 2006: QPR Report: QPR's ABC Loan: What's Known #1
QPR Report - April 2004 re QPR and Derby's ABC Loan
Also: "Clubs in Crisis"
For some QPR supporters (and probably some QPR Board Members) ABC has been on their mind this week.
A year ago, there were two struggling Championship sides, both with massive loans at high interest rates, from the mysterious "ABC Corporation." Over the past few years, both clubs' (varying) boards and their supporters spoke frequently about their debts to ABC and even about their "mystery" about who was behind the ABC Group.
And then the teams diverged both on and off the field. In 2005-06, the two teams struggled and both finished on 50 points (with Derby having a one goal better goal difference than QPR - 2005-06 Table This season, after last season's struggle, Derby County finished third and earlier this week won their playoff final at Wembley to reach the Premiership. Derby Count have thus won the sixty Million Pound "Jackpot" - See "The Times - Derby Gamble Hits the Jackpot"
QPR, for their part, struggled last season and they struggled even more this season, and just escaped the drop to "League One."
Off the field: Derby County got out of their ABC Loan, by getting new loans from more local sources and paying off the old ABC loans, while QPR supporters and board have spoken frequently about the ABC Loan (10 million pound at 10% payable 10 years after the loan was taken on), about trying to get new lenders, but at this writing remain in debt to ABC (and there remains a mystery about exactly who ABC are)
For QPR: the ABC is attaining is a certain urgency since according to "reports" and "common knowledge" at the five year mark of the loan (which has just been reached), there is supposedly an ability on the part of ABC to raise the interest rate on the loan; and an ability by QPR to pay off the debt (if they can get the loan from someone else at a lower interest rate).
The irony of course is that QPR are managed by the former manager of Derby County, John Gregory. And the Chairman of QPR, Gianni Paladini at one time (before buying into QPR), was interested in buying into Derby County.
The latest QPR pronouncement re ABC came earlier this month when the club made a statement re the ABC Loan and Oldham Chairman Simon Blitz
"...Queens Park Rangers FC have been involved in discussions with Simon Blitz about possibilities of re-financing the ABC loan at a better interest rate for QPR.
As part of those negotiations, and by way of a down-payment to demonstrate his interest in assisting with this in the future, Mr Blitz agreed to loan QPR £500,000.
It was agreed that the loan was not in violation of the Football Association or Football League rules.
Mr Blitz, as the lending party, assured QPR that he was satisfied, having received his own legal advice, that the loan did not violate any football rules.
The loan, and the security for the loan was not hidden and was made public by the registration of the security at Companies House.
Contrary to press reports, the loan was not made to help QPR with its payroll, but was made in the context of the ABC re-financing discussions.
Having taken further advice, and having discovered that Simon Blitz did not have the prior written authorisation of the F.A. to make this loan, QPR has agreed to pay the loan back forthwith.
QPR would like to assure its supporters that it has no intention of selling Lee Cook, and the fact that the proceeds of any future sale was offered as a security does not suggest this.
Mr Blitz had no say in any potential sale of Lee Cook, and now it is agreed to repay the loan he will not have a security over him.
QPR will continue to work hard to try and re-finance the ABC loan in the near future.
The contents of this statement have been shown to Simon Blitz and agreed by him. It will also been sent to the Football Association. QPR Report
See: QPR Report: May 2007: Almost Five Years Since QPR's ABC Loan, Exit Administration and Takeover Efforts Ended
October 2006: QPR Report: QPR's ABC Loan: What's Known #1
QPR Report - April 2004 re QPR and Derby's ABC Loan
Also: "Clubs in Crisis"
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
QPR's Ongoing 10% per-annum ABC Loan & QPR's Efforts to Deal with it
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Clearly, the ABC Loan is QPR's great Ten Million Pound Cloud hanging over the club:
[Much has been written and speculated about about QPR's 10 million loan at 10% annual interest, which they received from the mysterious Panama-based "ABC" group. Until a couple of months ago, Derby County had their own 15 million pound loan from ABC.
More re ABC Loan at Julia Hill's "Boardroom Blues" http://www.boardroomblues.co.uk/
and Tracy Stent & others QPR1st http://www.qpr1st.co.uk
(and obvious thanks to LSA & QPR1st QPR Rivals & QPRnet for holding these meetings or Q&As]. [A couple of the major press articles re QPR & Derby and the ABC Loan can be read at http://qprreport.blogspot.com/2006/04/abc-qpr-derby-county-looking-back.html. And also at Derby Count siteshttp://www.therams.co.uk/ and http://www.ramstrust.org/
Below some of the comments by QPR's Current Chairman about QPR are going to deal with this loan.
As posted by Steve Russell on LSA's News section almost two years ago:,
LSA News - 15th October 2004
Gianni Paladini Wants A Showdown - Marylebone and Paddington MercuryThere was a very interesting article by Paul Warburton in last week's Marylebone and Paddington Mercury. Gianni Paladini said that he would like a showdown with the previous Board to find out why they took out the £10m loan with ABC. The loan costs £1m a year in interest alone and when Gianni invested around £600,000 in May for 22.1% of company shares, instead of being welcomed, he was snubbed by members of the previous regime ! The former football agent believes that former Chairman, Nick Blackburn, Chief Executive, David Davies and plc Chairman, Ross Jones would have little to do with him.
He said, "I wasn't welcome the minute after I got involved with the Club. I tried but couldn't get answers about the finances of the Club, especially when I would ask David Davies.
For a long time it was like banging my head on the wall. It appears that Bill Power would get phone calls asking him what I was doing at the Club and yet I had brought a large sum of money and was keen to see what I was getting for my investment"
He alleges that Rangers were two weeks away from a second bout of administration which would carry a immediate fine of 10 points !
"We faced a bill from the Tax and the VAT man of around £2m, we hadn't got it and had no way of getting it at the time, quite frankly we were at the wall. I made a plea to my friend Antonio Caliendo in Monte Carlo to help. He had contacts going back 30 years. I told him if he couldn't help, I would lose all my money. I've never lost money in football and he must have thought it was shrewd on my behalf and we set about getting the money.
They persuaded other Monte Carlo businessmen to raise the money and they bought the company name Barnaby Holdings especially for that purpose.
Gianni said, " We've paid the immediate bill but why did we have to borrow £10m ? We didn't have a £10m debt The loan was agreed at 8% and at the last minute -not the last hour -the details of the loan was changed to 10% - take it or leave it ! The previous Board claimed that the Football League forced them to do it but I've spoken to the League and they say that's not true, but I want to know the truth" Steve Russell
http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/04sepoct.html
October 2005 - Ron Norris/QPRNet Interview with Paladini QPRnet.com: Is it true that we are behind on our payments to many suppliers?
Paladini: I tried to renegotiate the ABC loan and then some rubbish goes in the paper saying I was this and I was that, saying I was robbing the club and then they say we are going to go into liquidation. If while this is all going on you go to the bank to borrow ten million pounds that doesn’t do you any favours. I got an email from the bank and they didn’t want to take it any further because of these rumours. Never mind, we’ll carry on and eventually we’ll get rid of the ABC loan. http://qprnet.com/interviews/paladini.shtml
December 2005 Q&A Regarding the loan - it appears to me very easy and without access to the financial side at QPR, I guess I can only make assumptions. Are there negotiations taking place with solicitors, lenders and ABC in order to either re-negotiate with ABC or a high street lender? Paladini: We are arranging a new loan with the Lloyds TSB. The directors will give their personal guarantee on the loan. We hope to get an interest rate between 5.75% to 6%. Depending on the final interest rate we will save between £400-425k per year. http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/QA/0,,10373,00.html
May 2, 2006 Clive Whittingham QPR Rivals Q&A with Paladini: Q: "Five years until the ABC loan expires - should we be worried yet? Paladini It is my mission to stop that. I didn't create that situation and it's a difficult one to deal with but while I'm here it is my mission to get rid of it. The more people who see we're doing a good job the better the chance is that they'll help us out and work with us on this. We were very close to doing a deal with the Lloyds bank but then there was all that stuff in the Evening Standard and they pulled out, didn't want to know any more. When I took over here, the VAT man, the tax man, the creditors - none of them trusted QPR, and we've had to catch up with payments. People were queuing up for money here in September. We have to put forward a united front and look like a secure option for people to come and help us out. We're working hard on this, Antonio is in Milan today talking to banks and potential lenders. I am confident we'll be rid of the loan within the five years. Whatever happens I'm sure we'll do it. QPR Rivals wrote: "Later at the QPR1st AGM the trust put forward the idea of the fans trying to raise the money themselves over the next five years in return for the ground being signed over to the supporters. This ambitious plan was given support by Gianni Paladini who described it as a "fantastic idea." After the meeting had finished I spoke to, or rather listened to, Ross Jones' take on the loan. Jones maintains that with the football league breathing down our necks the deal was a good one for QPR; "You'd really struggle to find someone who'd lend you ten million pounds at anything less than ten percent. You may be able to get eight percent but time wasn't on our side. The football league wrote to us and said we would be expelled if we didn't find the funds to come out of administration - what would you have done? "We took out the ten million because that's what we needed to come out of administration, seven million of it went to creditors immediately. Nobody will lend you that kind of money at six or seven percent. It was a good deal for QPR at that time." Q: Do we even know who ABC Corporation are? Paladini No, no idea. They're based in Panama with a Swiss bank account I think but we just don't know. Ross Jones does though - "I know who's behind it all but I gave my word that I wouldn't reveal who it is so that's that. I'm a man of my word."http://queensparkrangers.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=2&stid=8410350
June 2006 Paladini Statement Paladini"...As I still get asked about the ABC loan I would like to tell the fans and shareholders that we are hoping to replace the ABC loan in the near future with a cheaper loan from a more reputable financial institution.What do we know about the ABC Corporation? Unfortunately very little, we have suspicions, but we can't prove who the controlling interest behind the ABC Corporation is. The ABC Corporation's lack of transparency means that the Board must question their motives and their attitude towards the club which is why the Board wish to refinance the ABC loan. We will be reviewing the legality of the ABC loan.http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~837609,00.html
LSA - REPORTED STATEMENTS FROM LSA & QPR 1st
eting 8th September 2005
".....This Thursday GP is going to meet some bankers to try and borrow money at an interest rate of 6% in order to pay off ABC. If he is successful that would save QPR £400k a year..." http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/05setpoct.html
September 2005 QPR 1st 0 Minutes/Report from Meeting with Club/Board Thursday 15 th September 2005 - http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/trustclubmeetsep2005.htm ABC Loan – GG asked for some clarification regarding the ABC loan and the Board's thoughts regarding it and if whether there had been any recent news relating to the comments made by GP about the possibility of the renegotiating of it? GP responded by saying that he/they “are currently in negotiations with a top bank looking at the possibility of getting it renegotiated at a rate of 6.5%”. GG spoke about the early redemption penalties and asked if GP could give any hints as to the terms, conditions and how long a period we would be talking about regarding a possible renegotiated deal, but GP said he couldn't comment but hoped to have some good news soon. GP stated that he felt the extra 2% (i.e. from 8% to 10%) was the fault of Ross Jones who he understood agreed to the change of rate at the last hour. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/trustclubmeetsep2005.htm
October 2005 - QPR1st Minutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005
ABC loan
We asked the question if The ABC Corporation are connected with any of the Monaco consortiums or the investors behind them. GP and AC seemed to find this amusing and stated categorically that ABC and the Monaco groups are not the same!
GP and CP explained they had no more clue than us as to who was behind ABC. There is very little copy correspondence in the QPR offices in relation to the loan. CP advised that he did not know if any arrangement fee or commission was paid on the loan when originally set up. CP also stated that at the beginning of each financial year on 1st June the figures showed a £1million loss. It is hoped that ABC may accept early repayment of the loan, which will be re financed with a more traditional identifiable lender.
We asked GP if there were any update on this, and if so would he be able to tell us with which banks the club are hoping to renegotiate with. GP stated that so far there have been talks with two banks, one of which would offer an interest rate of 6.5, whilst the other would offer 7%. He is unable to inform us at the time being as to which banks they have been talking to but CP said if they could get the loan renegotiated with a traditional institution, they would feel safer. He also said that on such a renegotiated deal, £300,000 per year in interest charges could be saved which could be directed to repaying the £10 million originally borrowed.
When asked about any fee charges for early repayment by ABC and CP said it would be negotiable.
And what about any new bank, what kind of security would they look at in order to protect their money? It was stated that any bank would secure a charge on the assets i.e. the ground.
And is there any truth in the rumour that the club have been behind in its payments to the ABC Corporation we asked? Absolutely not replied GP.
http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.doc
LSA- November 2005
"... LSA reps asked whether there was any progress on renegotiating the loan. GP said that talks are underway with a UK bank to try and get them to take over the loan at a rate of 6.5% instead of the 10% that we currently pay. We are also in negotiations with ABC Corporation to try and reduce the lump sum we will have to pay them if the bank takes over the loan.
GP said: “The loan was not the immediate problem – the biggest problem here was getting running costs back under control and avoiding administration, which we have done.” He said the club has saved £160k a year, for example, just by not replacing Mark Devlin and Mark Austin.
Despite that, our outgoings are still phenomenal. GP said that in the last 18 months our income has been £18m but this has all been spent. In one month alone we paid out £1.2m on bills, “but we still have money in the bank”.
A Member asked whether we are doing anything about the way the ABC loan was taken out. GP said there is nothing we can do, so it is not worth pursuing."
http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/05novdec.html
March 17, 2006 - QPR 1st Report QPR Holdings Ltd AGM
Whilst talking about loans, CP went on to mention the ABC loan, saying that the interest was 10% on it for 5 years, after 5 years (Spring of next year) there is a break clause, however the clause is not to our benefit because if we cannot find a way out of the loan, then ABC can up the interest should they so wish.
Antonio Caliendo then expressed a wish to speak and with the translation skills of Paolo Mina, we learnt that according to AC, the Board wishes to reach an agreement with ABC before the 5 year period and that they hope to present better results next year in order to hopefully be able to do this..... http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/AGM2006.doc
QPR 1st AGM April 2006
"...When asked to elaborate a little upon the groups, GP started to become a tad defensive, saying that himself and AC had put so much into the club, and then mentioned that at that very time, whilst he cannot say too much, AC was currently away in Milan attempting to see if he could find a solution to being able to refinance the ABC loan, saying “I realise what you Tracy, and others are talking about today about paying off the loan, but we need to try to look at ways of refinancing it, and getting it away from ABC when the 5-year term is up”. He then went onto mention that whilst he appreciated people’s concern, he wanted to give an example of how gossip on messageboards does have the potential to scupper possible commercial deals, citing how they had apparently verbally agreed with a High Street bank a renegotiation of the loan, only for them to pull out due to lack of confidence following rumours of the company going into administration. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/QPR1stAGM06DOC.doc
Clearly, the ABC Loan is QPR's great Ten Million Pound Cloud hanging over the club:
[Much has been written and speculated about about QPR's 10 million loan at 10% annual interest, which they received from the mysterious Panama-based "ABC" group. Until a couple of months ago, Derby County had their own 15 million pound loan from ABC.
More re ABC Loan at Julia Hill's "Boardroom Blues" http://www.boardroomblues.co.uk/
and Tracy Stent & others QPR1st http://www.qpr1st.co.uk
(and obvious thanks to LSA & QPR1st QPR Rivals & QPRnet for holding these meetings or Q&As]. [A couple of the major press articles re QPR & Derby and the ABC Loan can be read at http://qprreport.blogspot.com/2006/04/abc-qpr-derby-county-looking-back.html. And also at Derby Count siteshttp://www.therams.co.uk/ and http://www.ramstrust.org/
Below some of the comments by QPR's Current Chairman about QPR are going to deal with this loan.
As posted by Steve Russell on LSA's News section almost two years ago:,
LSA News - 15th October 2004
Gianni Paladini Wants A Showdown - Marylebone and Paddington MercuryThere was a very interesting article by Paul Warburton in last week's Marylebone and Paddington Mercury. Gianni Paladini said that he would like a showdown with the previous Board to find out why they took out the £10m loan with ABC. The loan costs £1m a year in interest alone and when Gianni invested around £600,000 in May for 22.1% of company shares, instead of being welcomed, he was snubbed by members of the previous regime ! The former football agent believes that former Chairman, Nick Blackburn, Chief Executive, David Davies and plc Chairman, Ross Jones would have little to do with him.
He said, "I wasn't welcome the minute after I got involved with the Club. I tried but couldn't get answers about the finances of the Club, especially when I would ask David Davies.
For a long time it was like banging my head on the wall. It appears that Bill Power would get phone calls asking him what I was doing at the Club and yet I had brought a large sum of money and was keen to see what I was getting for my investment"
He alleges that Rangers were two weeks away from a second bout of administration which would carry a immediate fine of 10 points !
"We faced a bill from the Tax and the VAT man of around £2m, we hadn't got it and had no way of getting it at the time, quite frankly we were at the wall. I made a plea to my friend Antonio Caliendo in Monte Carlo to help. He had contacts going back 30 years. I told him if he couldn't help, I would lose all my money. I've never lost money in football and he must have thought it was shrewd on my behalf and we set about getting the money.
They persuaded other Monte Carlo businessmen to raise the money and they bought the company name Barnaby Holdings especially for that purpose.
Gianni said, " We've paid the immediate bill but why did we have to borrow £10m ? We didn't have a £10m debt The loan was agreed at 8% and at the last minute -not the last hour -the details of the loan was changed to 10% - take it or leave it ! The previous Board claimed that the Football League forced them to do it but I've spoken to the League and they say that's not true, but I want to know the truth" Steve Russell
http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/04sepoct.html
October 2005 - Ron Norris/QPRNet Interview with Paladini QPRnet.com: Is it true that we are behind on our payments to many suppliers?
Paladini: I tried to renegotiate the ABC loan and then some rubbish goes in the paper saying I was this and I was that, saying I was robbing the club and then they say we are going to go into liquidation. If while this is all going on you go to the bank to borrow ten million pounds that doesn’t do you any favours. I got an email from the bank and they didn’t want to take it any further because of these rumours. Never mind, we’ll carry on and eventually we’ll get rid of the ABC loan. http://qprnet.com/interviews/paladini.shtml
December 2005 Q&A Regarding the loan - it appears to me very easy and without access to the financial side at QPR, I guess I can only make assumptions. Are there negotiations taking place with solicitors, lenders and ABC in order to either re-negotiate with ABC or a high street lender? Paladini: We are arranging a new loan with the Lloyds TSB. The directors will give their personal guarantee on the loan. We hope to get an interest rate between 5.75% to 6%. Depending on the final interest rate we will save between £400-425k per year. http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/QA/0,,10373,00.html
May 2, 2006 Clive Whittingham QPR Rivals Q&A with Paladini: Q: "Five years until the ABC loan expires - should we be worried yet? Paladini It is my mission to stop that. I didn't create that situation and it's a difficult one to deal with but while I'm here it is my mission to get rid of it. The more people who see we're doing a good job the better the chance is that they'll help us out and work with us on this. We were very close to doing a deal with the Lloyds bank but then there was all that stuff in the Evening Standard and they pulled out, didn't want to know any more. When I took over here, the VAT man, the tax man, the creditors - none of them trusted QPR, and we've had to catch up with payments. People were queuing up for money here in September. We have to put forward a united front and look like a secure option for people to come and help us out. We're working hard on this, Antonio is in Milan today talking to banks and potential lenders. I am confident we'll be rid of the loan within the five years. Whatever happens I'm sure we'll do it. QPR Rivals wrote: "Later at the QPR1st AGM the trust put forward the idea of the fans trying to raise the money themselves over the next five years in return for the ground being signed over to the supporters. This ambitious plan was given support by Gianni Paladini who described it as a "fantastic idea." After the meeting had finished I spoke to, or rather listened to, Ross Jones' take on the loan. Jones maintains that with the football league breathing down our necks the deal was a good one for QPR; "You'd really struggle to find someone who'd lend you ten million pounds at anything less than ten percent. You may be able to get eight percent but time wasn't on our side. The football league wrote to us and said we would be expelled if we didn't find the funds to come out of administration - what would you have done? "We took out the ten million because that's what we needed to come out of administration, seven million of it went to creditors immediately. Nobody will lend you that kind of money at six or seven percent. It was a good deal for QPR at that time." Q: Do we even know who ABC Corporation are? Paladini No, no idea. They're based in Panama with a Swiss bank account I think but we just don't know. Ross Jones does though - "I know who's behind it all but I gave my word that I wouldn't reveal who it is so that's that. I'm a man of my word."http://queensparkrangers.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=2&stid=8410350
June 2006 Paladini Statement Paladini"...As I still get asked about the ABC loan I would like to tell the fans and shareholders that we are hoping to replace the ABC loan in the near future with a cheaper loan from a more reputable financial institution.What do we know about the ABC Corporation? Unfortunately very little, we have suspicions, but we can't prove who the controlling interest behind the ABC Corporation is. The ABC Corporation's lack of transparency means that the Board must question their motives and their attitude towards the club which is why the Board wish to refinance the ABC loan. We will be reviewing the legality of the ABC loan.http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10373~837609,00.html
LSA - REPORTED STATEMENTS FROM LSA & QPR 1st
eting 8th September 2005
".....This Thursday GP is going to meet some bankers to try and borrow money at an interest rate of 6% in order to pay off ABC. If he is successful that would save QPR £400k a year..." http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/05setpoct.html
September 2005 QPR 1st 0 Minutes/Report from Meeting with Club/Board Thursday 15 th September 2005 - http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/trustclubmeetsep2005.htm ABC Loan – GG asked for some clarification regarding the ABC loan and the Board's thoughts regarding it and if whether there had been any recent news relating to the comments made by GP about the possibility of the renegotiating of it? GP responded by saying that he/they “are currently in negotiations with a top bank looking at the possibility of getting it renegotiated at a rate of 6.5%”. GG spoke about the early redemption penalties and asked if GP could give any hints as to the terms, conditions and how long a period we would be talking about regarding a possible renegotiated deal, but GP said he couldn't comment but hoped to have some good news soon. GP stated that he felt the extra 2% (i.e. from 8% to 10%) was the fault of Ross Jones who he understood agreed to the change of rate at the last hour. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/main/trustclubmeetsep2005.htm
October 2005 - QPR1st Minutes/Report from Meeting with QPR Board reps Friday 21st October 2005
ABC loan
We asked the question if The ABC Corporation are connected with any of the Monaco consortiums or the investors behind them. GP and AC seemed to find this amusing and stated categorically that ABC and the Monaco groups are not the same!
GP and CP explained they had no more clue than us as to who was behind ABC. There is very little copy correspondence in the QPR offices in relation to the loan. CP advised that he did not know if any arrangement fee or commission was paid on the loan when originally set up. CP also stated that at the beginning of each financial year on 1st June the figures showed a £1million loss. It is hoped that ABC may accept early repayment of the loan, which will be re financed with a more traditional identifiable lender.
We asked GP if there were any update on this, and if so would he be able to tell us with which banks the club are hoping to renegotiate with. GP stated that so far there have been talks with two banks, one of which would offer an interest rate of 6.5, whilst the other would offer 7%. He is unable to inform us at the time being as to which banks they have been talking to but CP said if they could get the loan renegotiated with a traditional institution, they would feel safer. He also said that on such a renegotiated deal, £300,000 per year in interest charges could be saved which could be directed to repaying the £10 million originally borrowed.
When asked about any fee charges for early repayment by ABC and CP said it would be negotiable.
And what about any new bank, what kind of security would they look at in order to protect their money? It was stated that any bank would secure a charge on the assets i.e. the ground.
And is there any truth in the rumour that the club have been behind in its payments to the ABC Corporation we asked? Absolutely not replied GP.
http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/GandAminutes.doc
LSA- November 2005
"... LSA reps asked whether there was any progress on renegotiating the loan. GP said that talks are underway with a UK bank to try and get them to take over the loan at a rate of 6.5% instead of the 10% that we currently pay. We are also in negotiations with ABC Corporation to try and reduce the lump sum we will have to pay them if the bank takes over the loan.
GP said: “The loan was not the immediate problem – the biggest problem here was getting running costs back under control and avoiding administration, which we have done.” He said the club has saved £160k a year, for example, just by not replacing Mark Devlin and Mark Austin.
Despite that, our outgoings are still phenomenal. GP said that in the last 18 months our income has been £18m but this has all been spent. In one month alone we paid out £1.2m on bills, “but we still have money in the bank”.
A Member asked whether we are doing anything about the way the ABC loan was taken out. GP said there is nothing we can do, so it is not worth pursuing."
http://www.qpr-lsa.co.uk/05novdec.html
March 17, 2006 - QPR 1st Report QPR Holdings Ltd AGM
Whilst talking about loans, CP went on to mention the ABC loan, saying that the interest was 10% on it for 5 years, after 5 years (Spring of next year) there is a break clause, however the clause is not to our benefit because if we cannot find a way out of the loan, then ABC can up the interest should they so wish.
Antonio Caliendo then expressed a wish to speak and with the translation skills of Paolo Mina, we learnt that according to AC, the Board wishes to reach an agreement with ABC before the 5 year period and that they hope to present better results next year in order to hopefully be able to do this..... http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/AGM2006.doc
QPR 1st AGM April 2006
"...When asked to elaborate a little upon the groups, GP started to become a tad defensive, saying that himself and AC had put so much into the club, and then mentioned that at that very time, whilst he cannot say too much, AC was currently away in Milan attempting to see if he could find a solution to being able to refinance the ABC loan, saying “I realise what you Tracy, and others are talking about today about paying off the loan, but we need to try to look at ways of refinancing it, and getting it away from ABC when the 5-year term is up”. He then went onto mention that whilst he appreciated people’s concern, he wanted to give an example of how gossip on messageboards does have the potential to scupper possible commercial deals, citing how they had apparently verbally agreed with a High Street bank a renegotiation of the loan, only for them to pull out due to lack of confidence following rumours of the company going into administration. http://www.qpr1st.co.uk/documents/QPR1stAGM06DOC.doc
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
QPR Report Tuesday Update
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- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions. Also see: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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- Past QPR Documents/Filings Available for Purchase
- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007and more than Six Months Since Last Club/Fan Reps Meet.
- One Year Flashback: QPR's Superkid in Demand
- Two Year Flashback: Briatore Speaks re QPR "I Know What I'm Doing"
- Three Year Flashback: QPR Appoint Chief Scout
- VIDEO from QPR-Burnley Game
- Dundee Deducted TWENTY-FIVE Points
- Rowan Vine Returns to QPR
- As has been noted on this site on a number of occasions: "QPR's ABC Replacement Loan from Amulya: It's been more than two years since the two year loan (at 8.5%) was announced
QPR AND AMULYA LOAN
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[The Shareholders letter (as originally posted by IsleworthRanger on WATRB Site]
[Note: Marco Rapini either is a QPR Director]
FLASHBACK - This was the July 2008 Letter to QPR Shareholders:
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"The company is required to repay an existing loan of £10M to ABC on or before the 31/7/08. ABC currently has an option over the Loftus Road Stadium which becomes exercisable if the company fails to repay the loan in full by 31/7/08.
The company requires financing in order to repay the loan. The company has sought to secure this financing from various financial institutions, but has been unable to do so owing to conditions and requirements of those institutions. As a result Amulya has agreed to advance a loan of £10m to the company in order to allow the company to repay the loan by 31/7/08 and thereby avoid the possibility of ABC exercising their option and acquiring the title to the stadium.
However as a condition to advancing the loan, Amulya requires the company to enter into the option. The option is on substantially similar terms to the ABC option. It grants Amulya an option to buy the stadium for £10M which is exercisable in the event the company fails to repay Amulya when the loan is due.
The term of the Amulya loan is two years. The rate is 8.50% compared with ABC's 10 %.Amulya Property Limited is a company that both Briatore and Amit Bhatia are connected with and also happens to share its name with a large Indian Property Company."
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
"New Loan Pushes ABC Out of the Picture"-
Ealing Gazette - New loan pushes ABC out of the picture
QPR have averted the prospect of ABC Corporation acquiring their Loftus Road ground, the club have confirmed.
ABC had the option to take ownership of the stadium if a £10m loan they made to the club’s holding company in 2002 was not repaid in full by the end of last month.
A recent letter to shareholders explained that the debt was paid by securing another £10m loan from a different company, Amulya Property Ltd, who now have a similar option to acquire the stadium in two years’ time if they are not repaid.
The interest rate on the new loan is 8.5% and Amulya has links with both Rangers’ co-owner Flavio Briatore and QPR holdings vice-chairman Amit Bhatia, whose father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal bought a 20% stake in the club last year.
The ABC loan has posed a threat to the club’s future for some time and the interest payments of nearly 11% were a major financial burden.
The loan was arranged so Rangers could come out of administration by making a payment to former owner Chris Wright, who was then a major creditor having made a series of directors’ loans during his tenure.
It also left the club with significant working capital which was used to fund the squad that won promotion from the Second Division two years later.
"The ABC loan has been of great concern to QPR fans, and has been a noose around the neck of this football club for far too long," Briatore told QPR’s website.
"I am delighted that we have now made arrangements to put this saga to an end." Ealing Gazette
August 5, 2008 - BBC - QPR complete payment of £10m loan
Queens Park Rangers have repaid the £10m they owed the ABC Corporation.
The loan was taken out in 2002 to assist the west London club in coming out of administration.
QPR Holdings Limited were required to repay £10m to the Panama-registered corporation on or before the 31 July 2008 deadline.
ABC had an option over the club's Loftus Road ground which could be exercised if the debt had not been met in full.
QPR Holdings Limited chairman Flavio Briatore said: "The ABC loan has been of great concern to QPR fans, and has been a noose around the neck of this club for far too long.
"I am delighted that we have now made arrangements to put this saga to an end.
"Building for the future is what is important to me, and the rest of the QPR board. However, with certain issues it is always necessary to deal with elements from the past, and today we have done this.
"This once again highlights our commitment to this football club, and now I am looking forward to working on the continued growth of Queens Park Rangers, both as a club and as a brand."
QPR Official Site - ABC LOAN REPAID IN FULL
Queens Park Rangers Football Club are delighted to announce the full repayment of our £10 million loan from ABC.
The loan was taken out into 2002 in order to assist the Club in coming out of administration.
QPR Holdings Limited was required to repay the existing loan of £10m to ABC Corporation on or before 31 July 2008.
ABC Corporation had an option over the Loftus Road Stadium, which would become exercisable if QPR Holdings Limited failed to repay the loan in full by 31 July 2008.
This loan was repaid in full today. Therefore, the option that ABC Corporation had over the Loftus Road Stadium no longer exists.
QPR Holdings Limited Chairman Flavio Briatore said: "The ABC loan has been of great concern to QPR fans, and has been a noose around the neck of this Football Club for far too long.
"I am delighted that we have now made arrangements to put this saga to an end.
"Building for the future is what is important to me, and the rest of the QPR Board. However, with certain issues it is always necessary to deal with elements from the past, and today we have done this.
"This once again highlights our commitment to this Football Club, and now I am looking forward to working on the continued growth of Queens Park Rangers, both as a Club and as a brand." QPR
July 28, 2008 "Remembering the ABC Loan"
QPR Official Site - HELPING THE HEROES!
- Serving members of the Royal Air Force at RAF Northolt were treated to a very special night recently, when former R's legends Kevin Gallen and Marc Bircham and current Youth Development Manager Steve Gallen gave up their evening to run a special training session for the football team.
- The footballers play local Sunday League Football in the Hayes & District League and the squad is made up of service personnel who between them have done over 30 six-month tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.
- One midfielder, Corporal Gary Clarke of The Queen's Colour Squadron, has done three tours to Iraq and two to Afghanistan, with another Afghanistan tour coming up in May.
- The team recently changed its name to Northolt Shepherds FC in tribute to one of their squad members - Dan Shepherd - who was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan last year. He was awarded a posthumous George Cross for bomb disposal.
- To coincide with the team changing its name, Manager Corporal Warren Ringham - of the Central Band of the RAF - applied to over 30 local companies looking for sponsorship and Michael Beavis of Northern Motors Vauxhall, Ruislip got the team kitted out with a full kit, balls, bibs and training wear. The old kit had become so shrunken with seasons and seasons of heavy usage and washing that the socks were cutting off the blood supply to the player's feet! It was Mr. Beavis' suggestion that the Club get in touch with the Club to see about a 'Help For Heroes' type training session.
- Warren is a lifelong QPR fan and Season Ticket holder (although RAF commitments prevented him from renewing these last couple of seasons) and he played in Kevin Gallen's testimonial against the Chelsea legends. He won a charity auction to play in the match, which QPR won 6-0, and he even set up a goal and scored one himself!
- The players from QPR were only too happy to give up their time and come and put the RAF players through their paces. Steve Gallen set the whole thing up and ran the session. Players were drilled on skills, technique, tactics, shooting and finished with a match - in which QPR legends Bircham and Gallen joined in.
- Warren Ringham told www.qpr.co.uk: "It was such an amazing experience to be coached by these professionals.
- "There was great banter, superb tips and coaching and getting to play with and against them at the end was a dream come true.
- "Sharing a beer with them afterwards in our NAAFI was a surreal moment and I personally hardly slept a wink that night!
- "I want to extend my deepest thanks to the lads for coming down, everyone is buzzing after the session and even the non-R's have pledged to watch out for QPR results after the tremendous show of generosity from Steve, Marc and Kevin!" QPR
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- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE
- QPR-Burnley Reports Compilation
- Amit Bhatia Supposedly Talking about big ambitions for QPR
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- For QPR and Football Updates throughout the day, visit the ever-growing (and hopefully, always-improving!)QPR Report Messageboard/quasi-blog . All QPR and football perspective welcome. Or simply feel free to read the football-only updates and discussions. Also see: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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- Past QPR Documents/Filings Available for Purchase
- APPROACHING 1,300 DAYS SINCE QPR's LAST FAN FORUM: April 27, 2007and more than Six Months Since Last Club/Fan Reps Meet.
- One Year Flashback: QPR's Superkid in Demand
- Two Year Flashback: Briatore Speaks re QPR "I Know What I'm Doing"
- Three Year Flashback: QPR Appoint Chief Scout
- VIDEO from QPR-Burnley Game
- Dundee Deducted TWENTY-FIVE Points
- Rowan Vine Returns to QPR
- As has been noted on this site on a number of occasions: "QPR's ABC Replacement Loan from Amulya: It's been more than two years since the two year loan (at 8.5%) was announced
QPR AND AMULYA LOAN
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[The Shareholders letter (as originally posted by IsleworthRanger on WATRB Site]
[Note: Marco Rapini either is a QPR Director]
FLASHBACK - This was the July 2008 Letter to QPR Shareholders:
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"The company is required to repay an existing loan of £10M to ABC on or before the 31/7/08. ABC currently has an option over the Loftus Road Stadium which becomes exercisable if the company fails to repay the loan in full by 31/7/08.
The company requires financing in order to repay the loan. The company has sought to secure this financing from various financial institutions, but has been unable to do so owing to conditions and requirements of those institutions. As a result Amulya has agreed to advance a loan of £10m to the company in order to allow the company to repay the loan by 31/7/08 and thereby avoid the possibility of ABC exercising their option and acquiring the title to the stadium.
However as a condition to advancing the loan, Amulya requires the company to enter into the option. The option is on substantially similar terms to the ABC option. It grants Amulya an option to buy the stadium for £10M which is exercisable in the event the company fails to repay Amulya when the loan is due.
The term of the Amulya loan is two years. The rate is 8.50% compared with ABC's 10 %.Amulya Property Limited is a company that both Briatore and Amit Bhatia are connected with and also happens to share its name with a large Indian Property Company."
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
"New Loan Pushes ABC Out of the Picture"-
Ealing Gazette - New loan pushes ABC out of the picture
QPR have averted the prospect of ABC Corporation acquiring their Loftus Road ground, the club have confirmed.
ABC had the option to take ownership of the stadium if a £10m loan they made to the club’s holding company in 2002 was not repaid in full by the end of last month.
A recent letter to shareholders explained that the debt was paid by securing another £10m loan from a different company, Amulya Property Ltd, who now have a similar option to acquire the stadium in two years’ time if they are not repaid.
The interest rate on the new loan is 8.5% and Amulya has links with both Rangers’ co-owner Flavio Briatore and QPR holdings vice-chairman Amit Bhatia, whose father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal bought a 20% stake in the club last year.
The ABC loan has posed a threat to the club’s future for some time and the interest payments of nearly 11% were a major financial burden.
The loan was arranged so Rangers could come out of administration by making a payment to former owner Chris Wright, who was then a major creditor having made a series of directors’ loans during his tenure.
It also left the club with significant working capital which was used to fund the squad that won promotion from the Second Division two years later.
"The ABC loan has been of great concern to QPR fans, and has been a noose around the neck of this football club for far too long," Briatore told QPR’s website.
"I am delighted that we have now made arrangements to put this saga to an end." Ealing Gazette
August 5, 2008 - BBC - QPR complete payment of £10m loan
Queens Park Rangers have repaid the £10m they owed the ABC Corporation.
The loan was taken out in 2002 to assist the west London club in coming out of administration.
QPR Holdings Limited were required to repay £10m to the Panama-registered corporation on or before the 31 July 2008 deadline.
ABC had an option over the club's Loftus Road ground which could be exercised if the debt had not been met in full.
QPR Holdings Limited chairman Flavio Briatore said: "The ABC loan has been of great concern to QPR fans, and has been a noose around the neck of this club for far too long.
"I am delighted that we have now made arrangements to put this saga to an end.
"Building for the future is what is important to me, and the rest of the QPR board. However, with certain issues it is always necessary to deal with elements from the past, and today we have done this.
"This once again highlights our commitment to this football club, and now I am looking forward to working on the continued growth of Queens Park Rangers, both as a club and as a brand."
QPR Official Site - ABC LOAN REPAID IN FULL
Queens Park Rangers Football Club are delighted to announce the full repayment of our £10 million loan from ABC.
The loan was taken out into 2002 in order to assist the Club in coming out of administration.
QPR Holdings Limited was required to repay the existing loan of £10m to ABC Corporation on or before 31 July 2008.
ABC Corporation had an option over the Loftus Road Stadium, which would become exercisable if QPR Holdings Limited failed to repay the loan in full by 31 July 2008.
This loan was repaid in full today. Therefore, the option that ABC Corporation had over the Loftus Road Stadium no longer exists.
QPR Holdings Limited Chairman Flavio Briatore said: "The ABC loan has been of great concern to QPR fans, and has been a noose around the neck of this Football Club for far too long.
"I am delighted that we have now made arrangements to put this saga to an end.
"Building for the future is what is important to me, and the rest of the QPR Board. However, with certain issues it is always necessary to deal with elements from the past, and today we have done this.
"This once again highlights our commitment to this Football Club, and now I am looking forward to working on the continued growth of Queens Park Rangers, both as a Club and as a brand." QPR
July 28, 2008 "Remembering the ABC Loan"
QPR Official Site - HELPING THE HEROES!
- Serving members of the Royal Air Force at RAF Northolt were treated to a very special night recently, when former R's legends Kevin Gallen and Marc Bircham and current Youth Development Manager Steve Gallen gave up their evening to run a special training session for the football team.
- The footballers play local Sunday League Football in the Hayes & District League and the squad is made up of service personnel who between them have done over 30 six-month tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.
- One midfielder, Corporal Gary Clarke of The Queen's Colour Squadron, has done three tours to Iraq and two to Afghanistan, with another Afghanistan tour coming up in May.
- The team recently changed its name to Northolt Shepherds FC in tribute to one of their squad members - Dan Shepherd - who was killed in an explosion in Afghanistan last year. He was awarded a posthumous George Cross for bomb disposal.
- To coincide with the team changing its name, Manager Corporal Warren Ringham - of the Central Band of the RAF - applied to over 30 local companies looking for sponsorship and Michael Beavis of Northern Motors Vauxhall, Ruislip got the team kitted out with a full kit, balls, bibs and training wear. The old kit had become so shrunken with seasons and seasons of heavy usage and washing that the socks were cutting off the blood supply to the player's feet! It was Mr. Beavis' suggestion that the Club get in touch with the Club to see about a 'Help For Heroes' type training session.
- Warren is a lifelong QPR fan and Season Ticket holder (although RAF commitments prevented him from renewing these last couple of seasons) and he played in Kevin Gallen's testimonial against the Chelsea legends. He won a charity auction to play in the match, which QPR won 6-0, and he even set up a goal and scored one himself!
- The players from QPR were only too happy to give up their time and come and put the RAF players through their paces. Steve Gallen set the whole thing up and ran the session. Players were drilled on skills, technique, tactics, shooting and finished with a match - in which QPR legends Bircham and Gallen joined in.
- Warren Ringham told www.qpr.co.uk: "It was such an amazing experience to be coached by these professionals.
- "There was great banter, superb tips and coaching and getting to play with and against them at the end was a dream come true.
- "Sharing a beer with them afterwards in our NAAFI was a surreal moment and I personally hardly slept a wink that night!
- "I want to extend my deepest thanks to the lads for coming down, everyone is buzzing after the session and even the non-R's have pledged to watch out for QPR results after the tremendous show of generosity from Steve, Marc and Kevin!" QPR
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- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE
- QPR-Burnley Reports Compilation
- Amit Bhatia Supposedly Talking about big ambitions for QPR
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Sunday, July 29, 2007
QPR's Week in Review: Positive Signings...Concerns re Finances and New ABC Loan
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On the field, a good week. Off the field, an additional loan from ABC with disturbing-to-some payback conditions. Several statements in response by a QPR Director and Legal Counsel sent to fan sites and to the press; but not a word on the club's Official Site. And in the background, numerous "strong" rumours of positive news re investor developments. [And in today's Sunday Mirror the headline "QPR Chief to Sell Up" and claim of a transfer embargo.
This week after many weeks of hopes and fears and rumours, Lee Camp finally signed for QPR. Also signing for QPR this week: A name no one had linked to QPR until a couple days before his signing: Charlton's Simon Walton. Camp and Walt together cost QPR a reported 500,000 pounds. (QPR of course received 2.5 million up front from the Lee Cook sale, but much of that money was needed to pay back loans). In signing Camp, QPR made a specific point of noting there had been no external financing of the deal Camp. Also joining QPR, on three months loan: Chelsea's highly-rated forward,Ben Sahar. Meanwhile QPR's Baidoo is having a trial with Bournemouth.
On Saturday, QPR played Wycombe at Wycombe, and won 1-0.
Re QPR, Additional ABC Loan & Comments by QPR Director and Legal Counsel, Nick De Marco: See below:
New Investment? Off the field, there are strong rumours re forthcoming new "investment" which is being termed very exciting.
QPR Fans Rank 12th in Championship in Optimism Survey! Optimistic QPR Fans
QPR Will Receive An Additional £750,000+ League Windfall?
BBC - League gives 'solidarity package' "The Premier League is to give more than £90m to the Football League over the next three seasons.... Clubs in the second tier of English football will receive an extra £11.2million next season." Depending on ranking, the fifth-placed club will receive £1,383,602. The lowest amount a club will get will be £775,000. Windfall
Report of QPR's Roof for Rent: The sky's the limit for QPR sponsorship- Rangers want a sponsor for the roof of their main stand
Loftus Road is on the Heathrow flight-path and QPR believe a deal similar to the one Brentford have with Qatar Airways could earn them £100,000-a-year.
AGENTS SPENDING: The Football League's latest report on clubs' spending on agents fees has been released. For QPR, it's way down to just £5,000 in the January-June 2007 Period. (For the entire year:Total Amount Committed to Agents - 1 July 06 to 30 June 07 £192,340 - Agents Fees
Which QPR Player Voted into PFA Hall of Fame?- Still waiting to See!
The Players Football Association (PFA) as part of its Centenary had the supporter of each club vote to decide which one of their players (current or past) should be voted into the Hall of fame. The voting closed June 29. a number of other clubs have announced their vote winner. QPR as of yet, have not." QPR Official Site - June 22, 2007 EVERY VOTE COUNTS Statement
Hall of Fame
Ex-QPRs Update - No Adam Czerkas to Motherwell...Dichio Named to MLS All- star roster. Justin Cochrane trialing at Brentford.
CONCERNS RE ADDITIONAL ABC LOAN AND PAY BACK CONDITIONS
The reports on this new loan came out a week ago on the QPR1st site:
Saturday, July 21. QPR's Director and Legal Counsel, Nick De Marco then offered responses to QPR1st,to LSA, to the Kilburn Times, to the Daily Mail.
QPR1st Initial Statement
ABC New Loan Agreement raises concern
QPR1st have learnt of a new loan agreeement made between QPR Holdings Limited and ABC Corporation.
Details of the agreement have been lodged with Companies House. The documents detail a new loan of £1,300,000 which is repayable in full on or before 15th August 2007. The documentation is dated to 2nd July 2007 and the charge is dated 22md June 2007.
Apart from the obvious suprise that QPR have gone back to ABC for more money when all the noises coming from the board have talked about moving the existing loan away from ABC, the Trust is specifically concerned about 2 additional elements in the documentation.
Firstly "payment in full on or before the repayment date set out in clause 6 1 2 of the new loan agreement (ie 31 July 2008) of the loan of £10,000,000 (ten million pounds sterling) advanced by ABC to the Company persuant to the terms of the Original Loan Agreement"
The Trust would like clarification on what exactly clause 6 1 2 in the new load agreement actualy states and whether the term of the original loan has been shortened to 2008 as suggested in the above paragraph copied from the Companies form 395 or whether this date is just an example and the original term of 10 years (2012) still applies to the new agreement.
Secondly we are concerned about the following paragraph submitted as short particulars on the same Companies House 395 form
" The Company grants ABC an option during the period of 16 months from the date of the Options Agreement ("the option period") to buy the freehold property at Loftus Road Stadium, South Africa Road, Hammersmith, London W12 7PA registered at HM Land Registry with title absolute under title number LN64521 (the "Property") at the purchase price of £10,000,000 (ten million pounds sterling (exclusive of VAT) from the company with full title guarantee"
The Trust has asked for an explanation as to why it is included and confirmation of the start date of the "option period" which we are currently assuming falls in line with the New Loan agreement 22nd June 2007. As far as the Trust is aware no such clause was within the original loan agreement.
In Total their are 3 new documents lodged at Companies House relating to the new agreement and we understand that these matters and the documentation associated with them are complex. We have tried to contact several directors of the club today but have failed to get a response however we realise that with it being the weekend they may not have rec'd the messages yet. We also tried to call the club but could not get a response over the phone. It may well be that there is a context to this information that will make it seem less alarming than it appears to us through the documentation available to us at the moment. As soon as we get a response from an official club representative we will post a follow up. QPR1st
COMPILATION OF QPR's LEGAL COUNSEL & DIRECTOR, NICK DE MARCO
NICK DE MARCO RESPONSE TO QPR1st
"QPR were faced with a winding-up order in July. If the club had not found a substantial sum of money to pay off before 4 July, the club would have been put in administration.
"Faced with that risk and the need to pay various other debts and on-going costs, the club had no alternative than to seek a short-term bridging loan.
"Nobody was prepared to lend the club the sums required in time, apart from ABC. It's not a great agreement for QPR but it was a choice between that and administration. QPR are able to repay the loan now, in part from the proceeds of sale of Lee Cook." Daily Mail
"...Fans will be aware that QPR was faced with a winding up order from both the IR and VAT in July. If the Club had not found a substantial sum of money to pay off before 4 July, the Club would have been put in Administration. At that point administrators would have been appointed and the players would have been sold off for way below their market price. ABC would have reclaimed their loan and could have enforced the term of the agreement allowing them to sell the ground. The Club would have been left with no ground or players. This is something the Board was determined to avoid at any cost.
The Board has announced that it is seeking new investors. It is necessary for QPR's long term survival and progression that such new investors come in. There are currently promising discussions in this regard. The Board has also looked to re-finance the ABC loan. Despite positive noises from some, nobody has yet agreed to take it on on better terms.
Faced with the risk of administration if a substantial sum was not paid to the taxman, the need to pay various other debts and of course on-going costs, the Club had no alternative than to seek a short term bridging loan. Nobody was prepared to lend the Club the sums required in time, apart from ABC who were themselves concerned that they might not be able to recover the debt owed to them by the Club if it went into administration.
That is why a variation of the loan agreement with ABC was negotiated. It's not a great agreement for QPR, but it was a choice between that and administration and the disastrous consequences that would have followed. QPR is able to repay the loan now, in part from the proceeds of sale of Lee Cook. Fans will recognise that when we have no new investment the only source of revenue is selling players or going into debt. The Board has attempted to avoid either of these options as far as possible, but at times it is necessary to keep the Club going which has to be the first priority. In any event, the Board believes the Cook deal is a good one for the Club.
It is also true that the club must find a replacement for the ABC loan in the next year. We are confident that we will do that, and financially it is necessary to do anyway. The advantage is that QPR will now be able to get out of the ABC loan earlier than the full 10 years once an alternative lender has been put in place. The on-going discussions with new investors obviously take this into account.
It is hoped that some new investment deal will be agreed in the next few weeks, otherwise an alternative loan provider from ABC will be agreed. It is not possible to go into detail about this at this stage because to do so may jeopardise those discussions.
I know fans understand that the main problem here is that the Club came out of administration with far greater debts than it went into it. The initial ABC loan agreement has cast a very long shadow over QPR. From the day that agreement was made, ABC effectively had the right to sell the ground. In essence, the initial loan agreement sold the ground to ABC for £10 million with interest, and only if that money was paid back to ABC would the ground be QPR's again. That has been the major difficulty facing the Board at QPR since, under both the Chairmanships of Bill Power and Gianni Paladini.
The Club has to pay its debts to survive, and we have to attract new investors now that the investment from the Monaco investors (which has kept the Club going for 4 years) has come to an end. Until the new investors come in, I am sure fans will agree that the main objective must be to avoid administration at all costs.
I realise that I might not have been able to answer all your questions in one email, and some people will inevitably describe this response as "spin", but I thought it better to give you a response as soon as possible. We hope to able able to report a lot more over the next couple of weeks or so. I know it's also time we had another fans consultative meeting and I am sure people will want a discussion of this then.
In the meantime, we have avoided administration and have secured the Club's short term future. All the Board's attention is now turned to the discussions which will hopefully resolve the long term future, over the next few weeks. QPR1st
NICK DE MARCO'S Follow-up RESPONSE TO QPR1st
Clarification from QPR on the "option to purchase"
"...Although I was not involved in the drawing up of the agreements with ABC, I have seen those agreements. I can categorically confirm that the “option” you speak of only arises after the repayment date of the original loan (of £10 million) has past, and only if the debt has not been repaid as of that date. The “option period” only arises after that date. This is very clear in the express terms of all the signed documentation. ABC have no option at present. QPR still has to find an alternative lender to replace the ABC loan, but so long as it does that before the expiry of the loan then the option does not arise...."
QPR1st
NICK DE MARCO'S RESPONSE TO LSA
"...It ought to be obvious why the details were not gone into at that stage. We all know the club has continued financial difficulties, but if it was announced that we needed £1.3million by the end of August or faced defaulting on a loan, do you think there would be any chance of getting more than the £1.5million Fulham bid upfront for Lee Cook? I can tell you there would be no chance at all. So by the news coming out a couple of weeks later we may have brought in an extra one million and are in a better position to sort out the financial mess. I am sure you would all agree that makes sense, and there are times when certain things have to remain completely confidential for the benefit of the Club. It remains the case, as was said at that meeting, that the only long term solution is brining in new investors and that is what we are spending all out time trying to agree....
LSA
NICK DE MARCO, QUOTED IN BEN KOSKY, KILBURN TIMES
Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times - Cook move prevents cash crisis
"Lee Cook's departure to Fulham has effectively staved off the threat of QPR being forced into administration for a second time.
Rangers increased their debt to the ABC corporation by £1.3m at the start of the month to avoid a potentially disastrous winding-up order from the Inland Revenue.
But the sale of Cook, which netted the club £2.5m up front, will enable them to repay the second loan - even though 15 per cent of the fee goes to the winger's former club Watford.
The Rs could eventually receive as much as an extra £2m from Fulham, dependent on how many appearances Cook makes for them and their success over the next four years.
QPR director Nick de Marco explained that the club had no choice but to turn to ABC, who effectively hold an option to sell Loftus Road under the terms of their original £10m loan in 2002.
He told the Times: "No-one else can lend us money with the ground as security because of the existing arrangement with ABC, so it was either borrowing from them or administration.
"As a result, the chances of administration are now not as great as they might have been a few weeks ago.
"We felt that to get £2.5m up front with no conditions attached is a good deal for someone who hasn't been tested in the Premiership - much better than we got from Watford for Danny Shittu."
He added that the board will continue discussions with potential investors, with a view to refinancing the remaining ABC loan, and hope to make an announcement in the next few weeks.... Kilburn Times
Compilation
Was then reported in the press:
July 24 - Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times - Cook move prevents cash crisis
"Lee Cook's departure to Fulham has effectively staved off the threat of QPR being forced into administration for a second time.
Rangers increased their debt to the ABC corporation by £1.3m at the start of the month to avoid a potentially disastrous winding-up order from the Inland Revenue.
But the sale of Cook, which netted the club £2.5m up front, will enable them to repay the second loan - even though 15 per cent of the fee goes to the winger's former club Watford.
The Rs could eventually receive as much as an extra £2m from Fulham, dependent on how many appearances Cook makes for them and their success over the next four years.
QPR director Nick de Marco explained that the club had no choice but to turn to ABC, who effectively hold an option to sell Loftus Road under the terms of their original £10m loan in 2002.
He told the Times: "No-one else can lend us money with the ground as security because of the existing arrangement with ABC, so it was either borrowing from them or administration.
"As a result, the chances of administration are now not as great as they might have been a few weeks ago.
"We felt that to get £2.5m up front with no conditions attached is a good deal for someone who hasn't been tested in the Premiership - much better than we got from Watford for Danny Shittu."
He added that the board will continue discussions with potential investors, with a view to refinancing the remaining ABC loan, and hope to make an announcement in the next few weeks.
Rangers finally conceded defeat in the battle to retain their Player of the Year last week, when he agreed personal terms and signed a four-year deal at Craven Cottage....
Daily Mail - July 26 - Rangers saved by £2.5m fee for Cook
Fulham saved west London rivals Queens Park Rangers from administration when they paid £2.5million for winger Lee Cook, it has emerged.
The deal allows the debt-ridden club to repay a £1.3m loan from Panama-based money-lenders, the ABC Corporation, which is secured against Loftus Road.
Rangers already owe ABC £10m from the deal which took the club out of administration in 2002 but needed the extra cash to pay an outstanding tax bill and stave off a winding-up order from HM Revenue and Customs.
The money from last week's Cook transfer will allow the club to pay off the short-term loan and give chairman Gianni Paladini more time to find new investors.
Rangers director Nick De Marco said: "QPR were faced with a winding-up order in July. If the club had not found a substantial sum of money to pay off before 4 July, the club would have been put in administration.
"Faced with that risk and the need to pay various other debts and on-going costs, the club had no alternative than to seek a short-term bridging loan.
"Nobody was prepared to lend the club the sums required in time, apart from ABC. It's not a great agreement for QPR but it was a choice between that and administration. QPR are able to repay the loan now, in part from the proceeds of sale of Lee Cook."
Rangers are understood to be close to refinancing the £10m ABC loan with another money lender.
To aid this process, QPR directors have negotiated an early-repayment clause with ABC, which had not originally been expecting its money back until 2012.
Under the deal, QPR have until 31 July next year to pay off ABC with cash from another lender or the company will have the right to take over ownership of Loftus Road.
The possibility of losing the ground has raised alarm among fans but QPR sources are "extremely confident" the 2008 option will never be exercised.
The club are in advanced negotiations with a new financial backer and hope to make an announcement in the next few weeks....Mail
OTHER ITEMS
See QPR Report for further details of all these stories.
On the field, a good week. Off the field, an additional loan from ABC with disturbing-to-some payback conditions. Several statements in response by a QPR Director and Legal Counsel sent to fan sites and to the press; but not a word on the club's Official Site. And in the background, numerous "strong" rumours of positive news re investor developments. [And in today's Sunday Mirror the headline "QPR Chief to Sell Up" and claim of a transfer embargo.
This week after many weeks of hopes and fears and rumours, Lee Camp finally signed for QPR. Also signing for QPR this week: A name no one had linked to QPR until a couple days before his signing: Charlton's Simon Walton. Camp and Walt together cost QPR a reported 500,000 pounds. (QPR of course received 2.5 million up front from the Lee Cook sale, but much of that money was needed to pay back loans). In signing Camp, QPR made a specific point of noting there had been no external financing of the deal Camp. Also joining QPR, on three months loan: Chelsea's highly-rated forward,Ben Sahar. Meanwhile QPR's Baidoo is having a trial with Bournemouth.
On Saturday, QPR played Wycombe at Wycombe, and won 1-0.
Re QPR, Additional ABC Loan & Comments by QPR Director and Legal Counsel, Nick De Marco: See below:
New Investment? Off the field, there are strong rumours re forthcoming new "investment" which is being termed very exciting.
QPR Fans Rank 12th in Championship in Optimism Survey! Optimistic QPR Fans
QPR Will Receive An Additional £750,000+ League Windfall?
BBC - League gives 'solidarity package' "The Premier League is to give more than £90m to the Football League over the next three seasons.... Clubs in the second tier of English football will receive an extra £11.2million next season." Depending on ranking, the fifth-placed club will receive £1,383,602. The lowest amount a club will get will be £775,000. Windfall
Report of QPR's Roof for Rent: The sky's the limit for QPR sponsorship- Rangers want a sponsor for the roof of their main stand
Loftus Road is on the Heathrow flight-path and QPR believe a deal similar to the one Brentford have with Qatar Airways could earn them £100,000-a-year.
AGENTS SPENDING: The Football League's latest report on clubs' spending on agents fees has been released. For QPR, it's way down to just £5,000 in the January-June 2007 Period. (For the entire year:Total Amount Committed to Agents - 1 July 06 to 30 June 07 £192,340 - Agents Fees
Which QPR Player Voted into PFA Hall of Fame?- Still waiting to See!
The Players Football Association (PFA) as part of its Centenary had the supporter of each club vote to decide which one of their players (current or past) should be voted into the Hall of fame. The voting closed June 29. a number of other clubs have announced their vote winner. QPR as of yet, have not." QPR Official Site - June 22, 2007 EVERY VOTE COUNTS Statement
Hall of Fame
Ex-QPRs Update - No Adam Czerkas to Motherwell...Dichio Named to MLS All- star roster. Justin Cochrane trialing at Brentford.
CONCERNS RE ADDITIONAL ABC LOAN AND PAY BACK CONDITIONS
The reports on this new loan came out a week ago on the QPR1st site:
Saturday, July 21. QPR's Director and Legal Counsel, Nick De Marco then offered responses to QPR1st,to LSA, to the Kilburn Times, to the Daily Mail.
QPR1st Initial Statement
ABC New Loan Agreement raises concern
QPR1st have learnt of a new loan agreeement made between QPR Holdings Limited and ABC Corporation.
Details of the agreement have been lodged with Companies House. The documents detail a new loan of £1,300,000 which is repayable in full on or before 15th August 2007. The documentation is dated to 2nd July 2007 and the charge is dated 22md June 2007.
Apart from the obvious suprise that QPR have gone back to ABC for more money when all the noises coming from the board have talked about moving the existing loan away from ABC, the Trust is specifically concerned about 2 additional elements in the documentation.
Firstly "payment in full on or before the repayment date set out in clause 6 1 2 of the new loan agreement (ie 31 July 2008) of the loan of £10,000,000 (ten million pounds sterling) advanced by ABC to the Company persuant to the terms of the Original Loan Agreement"
The Trust would like clarification on what exactly clause 6 1 2 in the new load agreement actualy states and whether the term of the original loan has been shortened to 2008 as suggested in the above paragraph copied from the Companies form 395 or whether this date is just an example and the original term of 10 years (2012) still applies to the new agreement.
Secondly we are concerned about the following paragraph submitted as short particulars on the same Companies House 395 form
" The Company grants ABC an option during the period of 16 months from the date of the Options Agreement ("the option period") to buy the freehold property at Loftus Road Stadium, South Africa Road, Hammersmith, London W12 7PA registered at HM Land Registry with title absolute under title number LN64521 (the "Property") at the purchase price of £10,000,000 (ten million pounds sterling (exclusive of VAT) from the company with full title guarantee"
The Trust has asked for an explanation as to why it is included and confirmation of the start date of the "option period" which we are currently assuming falls in line with the New Loan agreement 22nd June 2007. As far as the Trust is aware no such clause was within the original loan agreement.
In Total their are 3 new documents lodged at Companies House relating to the new agreement and we understand that these matters and the documentation associated with them are complex. We have tried to contact several directors of the club today but have failed to get a response however we realise that with it being the weekend they may not have rec'd the messages yet. We also tried to call the club but could not get a response over the phone. It may well be that there is a context to this information that will make it seem less alarming than it appears to us through the documentation available to us at the moment. As soon as we get a response from an official club representative we will post a follow up. QPR1st
COMPILATION OF QPR's LEGAL COUNSEL & DIRECTOR, NICK DE MARCO
NICK DE MARCO RESPONSE TO QPR1st
"QPR were faced with a winding-up order in July. If the club had not found a substantial sum of money to pay off before 4 July, the club would have been put in administration.
"Faced with that risk and the need to pay various other debts and on-going costs, the club had no alternative than to seek a short-term bridging loan.
"Nobody was prepared to lend the club the sums required in time, apart from ABC. It's not a great agreement for QPR but it was a choice between that and administration. QPR are able to repay the loan now, in part from the proceeds of sale of Lee Cook." Daily Mail
"...Fans will be aware that QPR was faced with a winding up order from both the IR and VAT in July. If the Club had not found a substantial sum of money to pay off before 4 July, the Club would have been put in Administration. At that point administrators would have been appointed and the players would have been sold off for way below their market price. ABC would have reclaimed their loan and could have enforced the term of the agreement allowing them to sell the ground. The Club would have been left with no ground or players. This is something the Board was determined to avoid at any cost.
The Board has announced that it is seeking new investors. It is necessary for QPR's long term survival and progression that such new investors come in. There are currently promising discussions in this regard. The Board has also looked to re-finance the ABC loan. Despite positive noises from some, nobody has yet agreed to take it on on better terms.
Faced with the risk of administration if a substantial sum was not paid to the taxman, the need to pay various other debts and of course on-going costs, the Club had no alternative than to seek a short term bridging loan. Nobody was prepared to lend the Club the sums required in time, apart from ABC who were themselves concerned that they might not be able to recover the debt owed to them by the Club if it went into administration.
That is why a variation of the loan agreement with ABC was negotiated. It's not a great agreement for QPR, but it was a choice between that and administration and the disastrous consequences that would have followed. QPR is able to repay the loan now, in part from the proceeds of sale of Lee Cook. Fans will recognise that when we have no new investment the only source of revenue is selling players or going into debt. The Board has attempted to avoid either of these options as far as possible, but at times it is necessary to keep the Club going which has to be the first priority. In any event, the Board believes the Cook deal is a good one for the Club.
It is also true that the club must find a replacement for the ABC loan in the next year. We are confident that we will do that, and financially it is necessary to do anyway. The advantage is that QPR will now be able to get out of the ABC loan earlier than the full 10 years once an alternative lender has been put in place. The on-going discussions with new investors obviously take this into account.
It is hoped that some new investment deal will be agreed in the next few weeks, otherwise an alternative loan provider from ABC will be agreed. It is not possible to go into detail about this at this stage because to do so may jeopardise those discussions.
I know fans understand that the main problem here is that the Club came out of administration with far greater debts than it went into it. The initial ABC loan agreement has cast a very long shadow over QPR. From the day that agreement was made, ABC effectively had the right to sell the ground. In essence, the initial loan agreement sold the ground to ABC for £10 million with interest, and only if that money was paid back to ABC would the ground be QPR's again. That has been the major difficulty facing the Board at QPR since, under both the Chairmanships of Bill Power and Gianni Paladini.
The Club has to pay its debts to survive, and we have to attract new investors now that the investment from the Monaco investors (which has kept the Club going for 4 years) has come to an end. Until the new investors come in, I am sure fans will agree that the main objective must be to avoid administration at all costs.
I realise that I might not have been able to answer all your questions in one email, and some people will inevitably describe this response as "spin", but I thought it better to give you a response as soon as possible. We hope to able able to report a lot more over the next couple of weeks or so. I know it's also time we had another fans consultative meeting and I am sure people will want a discussion of this then.
In the meantime, we have avoided administration and have secured the Club's short term future. All the Board's attention is now turned to the discussions which will hopefully resolve the long term future, over the next few weeks. QPR1st
NICK DE MARCO'S Follow-up RESPONSE TO QPR1st
Clarification from QPR on the "option to purchase"
"...Although I was not involved in the drawing up of the agreements with ABC, I have seen those agreements. I can categorically confirm that the “option” you speak of only arises after the repayment date of the original loan (of £10 million) has past, and only if the debt has not been repaid as of that date. The “option period” only arises after that date. This is very clear in the express terms of all the signed documentation. ABC have no option at present. QPR still has to find an alternative lender to replace the ABC loan, but so long as it does that before the expiry of the loan then the option does not arise...."
QPR1st
NICK DE MARCO'S RESPONSE TO LSA
"...It ought to be obvious why the details were not gone into at that stage. We all know the club has continued financial difficulties, but if it was announced that we needed £1.3million by the end of August or faced defaulting on a loan, do you think there would be any chance of getting more than the £1.5million Fulham bid upfront for Lee Cook? I can tell you there would be no chance at all. So by the news coming out a couple of weeks later we may have brought in an extra one million and are in a better position to sort out the financial mess. I am sure you would all agree that makes sense, and there are times when certain things have to remain completely confidential for the benefit of the Club. It remains the case, as was said at that meeting, that the only long term solution is brining in new investors and that is what we are spending all out time trying to agree....
LSA
NICK DE MARCO, QUOTED IN BEN KOSKY, KILBURN TIMES
Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times - Cook move prevents cash crisis
"Lee Cook's departure to Fulham has effectively staved off the threat of QPR being forced into administration for a second time.
Rangers increased their debt to the ABC corporation by £1.3m at the start of the month to avoid a potentially disastrous winding-up order from the Inland Revenue.
But the sale of Cook, which netted the club £2.5m up front, will enable them to repay the second loan - even though 15 per cent of the fee goes to the winger's former club Watford.
The Rs could eventually receive as much as an extra £2m from Fulham, dependent on how many appearances Cook makes for them and their success over the next four years.
QPR director Nick de Marco explained that the club had no choice but to turn to ABC, who effectively hold an option to sell Loftus Road under the terms of their original £10m loan in 2002.
He told the Times: "No-one else can lend us money with the ground as security because of the existing arrangement with ABC, so it was either borrowing from them or administration.
"As a result, the chances of administration are now not as great as they might have been a few weeks ago.
"We felt that to get £2.5m up front with no conditions attached is a good deal for someone who hasn't been tested in the Premiership - much better than we got from Watford for Danny Shittu."
He added that the board will continue discussions with potential investors, with a view to refinancing the remaining ABC loan, and hope to make an announcement in the next few weeks.... Kilburn Times
Compilation
Was then reported in the press:
July 24 - Ben Kosky/Kilburn Times - Cook move prevents cash crisis
"Lee Cook's departure to Fulham has effectively staved off the threat of QPR being forced into administration for a second time.
Rangers increased their debt to the ABC corporation by £1.3m at the start of the month to avoid a potentially disastrous winding-up order from the Inland Revenue.
But the sale of Cook, which netted the club £2.5m up front, will enable them to repay the second loan - even though 15 per cent of the fee goes to the winger's former club Watford.
The Rs could eventually receive as much as an extra £2m from Fulham, dependent on how many appearances Cook makes for them and their success over the next four years.
QPR director Nick de Marco explained that the club had no choice but to turn to ABC, who effectively hold an option to sell Loftus Road under the terms of their original £10m loan in 2002.
He told the Times: "No-one else can lend us money with the ground as security because of the existing arrangement with ABC, so it was either borrowing from them or administration.
"As a result, the chances of administration are now not as great as they might have been a few weeks ago.
"We felt that to get £2.5m up front with no conditions attached is a good deal for someone who hasn't been tested in the Premiership - much better than we got from Watford for Danny Shittu."
He added that the board will continue discussions with potential investors, with a view to refinancing the remaining ABC loan, and hope to make an announcement in the next few weeks.
Rangers finally conceded defeat in the battle to retain their Player of the Year last week, when he agreed personal terms and signed a four-year deal at Craven Cottage....
Daily Mail - July 26 - Rangers saved by £2.5m fee for Cook
Fulham saved west London rivals Queens Park Rangers from administration when they paid £2.5million for winger Lee Cook, it has emerged.
The deal allows the debt-ridden club to repay a £1.3m loan from Panama-based money-lenders, the ABC Corporation, which is secured against Loftus Road.
Rangers already owe ABC £10m from the deal which took the club out of administration in 2002 but needed the extra cash to pay an outstanding tax bill and stave off a winding-up order from HM Revenue and Customs.
The money from last week's Cook transfer will allow the club to pay off the short-term loan and give chairman Gianni Paladini more time to find new investors.
Rangers director Nick De Marco said: "QPR were faced with a winding-up order in July. If the club had not found a substantial sum of money to pay off before 4 July, the club would have been put in administration.
"Faced with that risk and the need to pay various other debts and on-going costs, the club had no alternative than to seek a short-term bridging loan.
"Nobody was prepared to lend the club the sums required in time, apart from ABC. It's not a great agreement for QPR but it was a choice between that and administration. QPR are able to repay the loan now, in part from the proceeds of sale of Lee Cook."
Rangers are understood to be close to refinancing the £10m ABC loan with another money lender.
To aid this process, QPR directors have negotiated an early-repayment clause with ABC, which had not originally been expecting its money back until 2012.
Under the deal, QPR have until 31 July next year to pay off ABC with cash from another lender or the company will have the right to take over ownership of Loftus Road.
The possibility of losing the ground has raised alarm among fans but QPR sources are "extremely confident" the 2008 option will never be exercised.
The club are in advanced negotiations with a new financial backer and hope to make an announcement in the next few weeks....Mail
OTHER ITEMS
See QPR Report for further details of all these stories.
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