Highland Hospice share transfer

[ictchris]

Reported this morning by Tyrone Smith on Twitter that Highland Hospice have been gifted more than 500,000 shares in ICT by an anonymous donor.  This gives them around 19% of the club.

Nicola McAlley has reported that these shares will be sold on by the Hospice and this has been done to aid their fundraising for a new In-Patient Unit.

A noble gesture for sure.  Questions though

- Who has given away nearly 20% of the club?

- Assuming a buyer has been lined up, who is buying 20% of our club?

 

[RiG]

My guess would be the nicest guy on the planet Tobi Sho-Silva.

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

Mike Ashley?

[Yngwie]

I believe the only person/entity owning at least 20% of the shares is the charitable trust set up in 2000, whose directors include David Sutherland and David Stewart. Of the other big shareholders (Muirfield Mills, Orion and Scotlog) none exceed 15%.

The identity of the donor will be confirmed when the club files its next annual return in March.

 

[Renegade]

56 minutes ago, HawkeyeTheGnu said:

Mike Ashley?

Giovanni Di Stefano?

[Yngwie]

Based on the last annual return, here's the ownership of our club prior to this share transfer:

[ictchris]

David Cameron owns 3% of our club?

[CaleyTom]

12 minutes ago, Yngwie said:

Based on the last annual return, here's the ownership of our club prior to this share transfer:

This would cast some doubt on what Tyrone Smith is stating , perhaps he has the correct story but the wrong %

[+Fraz]

20 minutes ago, ictchris said:

David Cameron owns 3% of our club?

Chap who has upland developments in Aviemore.

Not the pig porking Tory.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

But if Muirfield Mills and Orion joined forces - as was always rumoured - showing that they have given up hope of taking over but making sure their shares do not go elsewhere ?

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

9 minutes ago, IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER said:

But if Muirfield Mills and Orion joined forces - as was always rumoured - showing that they have given up hope of taking over but making sure their shares do not go elsewhere ?

But if the hospice are selling the shares this does not guarantee that. 

[Yngwie]

The natural objective of the hospice will be to maximise the income it can get from selling these shares, but selling to the highest bidder leaves ICT in a position where its biggest shareholder could be someone completely undesirable, a Craig Whyte or Giovanni de Stefano for example.

It would be good if the donor of the shares applied conditions or a right of veto for their subsequent resale.  If the donor is indeed the Trust which is controlled by people with ICT's interests at heart, I'm sure they'd have thought of this. Or perhaps the club's Articles already contain some sort of conditions on share transfers requiring Board approval or such like?

[Sneckboy]

Pure speculation here from me.
If the 19% figure is correct, and using Yngwie's figures from above, Alexander Catto's 5% plus Scotlog Sales Ltd's 14% = 19%
In actual number of shares, this would be 140,000 plus 433,950 = 573,950 shares. Precisely the figure Tyrone Smith quoted.
Also, the 19% share would leave the Hospice as the second biggest shareholder behind the 24% held by the 'Trust' - again consistent with what's been reported.
But, as I'm using peoples names here without any supporting evidence, no inference should be drawn from what my simply be an arithmetic coincidence.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Sneckboy

[Yngwie]

The Catto family own and run Scotlog Sales, so your speculation may well turn out to be correct.

[Alex MacLeod]

I'm inclined to agree with the Catto theory. I would think they have decided they want out without the hassle of finding someone to buy their stake. How Highland Hospice dispose of shares remains to be seem but I feel they'd be better to sell in small blocks to fans of the club. I think people may well be persuaded to buy knowing a good cause benefits.

[12th Man]

Well its a very kind hearted gesture whoever donated the 500,000 shares.

Regardless of what they do with them.

 

[Alex MacLeod]

Its a fantastic gesture and when I win euromillions tonight I'll make them an offer they cant refuse.

[Iain]

4 hours ago, Alex MacLeod said:

I'm inclined to agree with the Catto theory. I would think they have decided they want out without the hassle of finding someone to buy their stake. How Highland Hospice dispose of shares remains to be seem but I feel they'd be better to sell in small blocks to fans of the club. I think people may well be persuaded to buy knowing a good cause benefits.

It seems their hands are tied in that respect, saying on the radio they would like to have done that but are looking to sell to 2-3 buyers.

[12th Man]

2 minutes ago, Alex MacLeod said:

Its a fantastic gesture and when I win euromillions tonight I'll make them an offer they cant refuse.

£500,000 ?

[Alex MacLeod]

Naw I'll double it so they have the million or so they need to complete current projects. Thats the kind of guy I am.

[12th Man]

16 minutes ago, Iain said:

It seems their hands are tied in that respect, saying on the radio they would like to have done that but are looking to sell to 2-3 buyers.

If they are only splitting between a few buyers, then if your after shares the club can easily point you in the direction of their solicitor, I'm assuming shares are still available for £1 a share

[closed]

I think there is more to this story. Or I have I just become programmed to be too cynical and quiz what I'm being fed. Feels like lazy journalism with media just reporting what's been announced. What,why,who,where?Seems like no-one with the opportunity bothered to probe a bit more.  Are the shares really worth £500,000? With fan ownership on the football agenda just now could a group be mustered to gobble these up or is it already a done deal? Could probably write a book of questions. I hope that the hospice benefit from this but I'm not sure at the moment. 

[ICTRoughi]

19 minutes ago, rebelwithoutaclue said:

With fan ownership on the football agenda just now could a group be mustered to gobble these up or is it already a done deal?

I could be well wide off the mark here but I am under the impression that ICT Trust Ltd is something to do with CJT now since the supporters society merged with the supporters bus unless the shares didn't transfer over. This would be a possibility for fan ownership but with the figures to buy the additional 19% share in the club is at £500K circa then I doubt fans would do that unless there was someone willing to invest serious money into it. 

[Charles Bannerman]

1 hour ago, ICTRoughi said:

I could be well wide off the mark here but I am under the impression that ICT Trust Ltd is something to do with CJT now since the supporters society merged with the supporters bus unless the shares didn't transfer over. This would be a possibility for fan ownership but with the figures to buy the additional 19% share in the club is at £500K circa then I doubt fans would do that unless there was someone willing to invest serious money into it. 

I think you possibly are a bit wide of the mark Roughi, but don't worry about it. What you have quoted is actually the second most common misconception in North football - after the commonly observed fudge between the Highland Football Academy and the Ross County Academy.

The ICT Trust is a charitable trust which was set up by necessity in the early 2000s, effectively as a vehicle for spiriting away £2M+ of debt which had accrued up to that point. Names associated with it over the years have been David Stewart, David Sutherland and Ex Provost Allan Sellar - who is now quite elderly and I believe MAY have stood down. I have a notion where most of the Trust's shares came from but am not prepared to say in case I am wrong.

CJT or CaleyJagsTogether, on the other hand, is the current title of the supporters' organisation and is effectively the successor of the Supporters' Trust. When the club was first formed, the supporters' organisation held something like 50% of the equity in recognition of the Thistle and Caley assets which were invested in the new club. However, mirroring the growth and developing nature of the club, this was progressively diluted over the years and I really don't know at what level that holding now stands. Certainly Yngwie's figures don't appear to mention this individually so it may well be that it is no longer very large at all in % terms.

As a result, what you describe doesn't really look like a potential avenue for fan ownership. But what should be recognised is that the appearance on the market of as big a slice of the total equity as that 19% does offer opportunities for the possible emergence of a significant "biggest" (as opposed to "majority") shareholder among the current bigger players. This could especially be the case given that a Hospice representative was saying tonight that the holding, for practical reasons, is likely to be sold off in a small number of hence quite large parcels - and that there had already been expressions of interest.

I have no doubt the ICT community will be alive with all manner of speculation and conspiracy theories in the weeks to come!

Edited January 15, 2016 by Charles Bannerman

[ICTRoughi]

21 minutes ago, Charles Bannerman said:

I think you possibly are a bit wide of the mark Roughi, but don't worry about it. What you have quoted is actually the second most common misconception in North football - after the commonly observed fudge between the Highland Football Academy and the Ross County Academy.

The ICT Trust is a charitable trust which was set up by necessity in the early 2000s, effectively as a vehicle for spiriting away £2M+ of debt which had accrued up to that point. Names associated with it over the years have been David Stewart, David Sutherland and Ex Provost Allan Sellar - who is now quite elderly and I believe MAY have stood down. I have a notion where most of the Trust's shares came from but am not prepared to say in case I am wrong.

CJT or CaleyJagsTogether, on the other hand, is the current title of the supporters' organisation and is effectively the successor of the Supporters' Trust. When the club was first formed, the supporters' organisation held something like 50% of the equity in recognition of the Thistle and Caley assets which were invested in the new club. However, mirroring the growth and developing nature of the club, this was progressively diluted over the years and I really don't know at what level that holding now stands. Certainly Yngwie's figures don't appear to mention this individually so it may well be that it is no longer very large at all in % terms.

As a result, what you describe doesn't really look like a potential avenue for fan ownership. But what should be recognised is that the appearance on the market of as big a slice of the total equity as that 19% does offer opportunities for the possible emergence of a significant "biggest" (as opposed to "major") shareholder among the current bigger players. This could especially be the case given that a Hospice representative was saying tonight that the holding, for practical reasons, is likely to be sold off in a small number of hence quite large parcels - and that there had already been expressions of interest.

I have no doubt the ICT community will be alive with all manner of speculation and conspiracy theories in the weeks to come!

Thanks for the clarification Charles. I always thought the supporters trust had a bigger hand in the club because fans could buy shares for £1 iirc.