Smisa & Gordon Scott Submit Bid

[div]

ST MIRREN fans are hoping to take control of the Paisley outfit after submitting a fresh takeover bid, writes the PA

The St Mirren Independent Supporters Association have teamed up with former director Gordon Scott as they look to buy out a controlling stake owned by chairman Stewart Gilmour and a consortium of fellow board members and investors.

It’s understood an offer in the region of £1million was lodged on Tuesday.

The SMISA plan is based on the model which saw the Foundation of Hearts rescue their club with the help of Ann Budge.

Together the fans' group and Scott hope to buy up a majority stake, with the Buddies support then buying out Scott's holding over a five-to-10-year period.

If successful Scott would take over as chairman in the initial period, while a fan representative would also be appointed to the club's board.

SMISA chairman George Adam - who is also MSP for Paisley - said: "An offer has been made and we're now just waiting for the board to get back to us.

"Our plan is very similar to the model Hearts have employed to great success. Gordon already has a shareholding and plans to buy more, while we will also buy a stake and between us we will own a majority.

Source;

https://t.co/6Ono87oRPy

[TopCat]

Hope it's accepted.

Perhaps the whole English bid thing was leaked/made up in order to hurry SMiSA up?

If so, it seems to have worked.

[billyg]

Is this in response to the other bid Div? As a Smisa member I would have expected to have been made aware of the fact that this was now going ahead . Seems a bit rushed !

[ds10]

Hmm...Hope his situation is resolved one way or the other ASAP.

Last years debacle at the same stage of the season did significant damage to the club.

And now this latest speculation/set of offers seems ideally timed once again to cause maximum disruption to the club.

Would it not be sensible to conduct this sort of business outwith the transfer windows at least?

[rea]

Good luck to those involved, i hope someone within SMISA is going to be able to basically work full time on the bid and funding, in order to give the process the time it deserves, from experience it will need it.

Who is the front man for SMiSA....who do i get to ask "what's in it for them"

[Lord Pityme]

Which one of Smisa and GLS is English, and which is the strong Scottish connection?

[div]

Is this in response to the other bid Div? As a Smisa member I would have expected to have been made aware of the fact that this was now going ahead . Seems a bit rushed !

I can only assume so mate as I was thinking exactly the same thing. I'm a SMiSA member too and I'm struggling to understand how a bid could have been lodged without any of the members having been notified !

Either the rumours of the alternative bid have, by design or not, forced SMiSA to bid, or there is actually an alternative offer that has forced the hand.

Interesting to see how it all pans out.

[TopCat]

Good luck to those involved, i hope someone within SMISA is going to be able to basically work full time on the bid and funding, in order to give the process the time it deserves, from experience it will need it.

Who is the front man for SMiSA....who do i get to ask "what's in it for them"

George Adam it seems like. He's an MSP, so will have plenty of spare time.

[linwood buddie]

ST MIRREN fans are hoping to take control of the Paisley outfit after submitting a fresh takeover bid, writes the PA

The St Mirren Independent Supporters Association have teamed up with former director Gordon Scott as they look to buy out a controlling stake owned by chairman Stewart Gilmour and a consortium of fellow board members and investors.

It’s understood an offer in the region of £1million was lodged on Tuesday.

The SMISA plan is based on the model which saw the Foundation of Hearts rescue their club with the help of Ann Budge.

Together the fans' group and Scott hope to buy up a majority stake, with the Buddies support then buying out Scott's holding over a five-to-10-year period.

If successful Scott would take over as chairman in the initial period, while a fan representative would also be appointed to the club's board.

SMISA chairman George Adam - who is also MSP for Paisley - said: "An offer has been made and we're now just waiting for the board to get back to us.

"Our plan is very similar to the model Hearts have employed to great success. Gordon already has a shareholding and plans to buy more, while we will also buy a stake and between us we will own a majority.

Source;

https://t.co/6Ono87oRPy

Wish them the best of luck ,but can't see how it could work long term i'm afraid ,Hearts have a much larger fan base who are willing to put the money in every month . I think the fact our fan base is so small it has hampered serious parties with the exception of GS and SMISA from really pursuing their interest .

[rea]

Wish them the best of luck ,but can't see how it could work long term i'm afraid ,Hearts have a much larger fan base who are willing to put the money in every month . I think the fact our fan base is so small it has hampered serious parties with the exception of GS and SMISA from really pursuing their interest .

Disagree, the fan base is large enough to support at least a bid of £800K. what is needed to support it is a lump sum cash input which is presumably what Gordon is bringing to the party.

[Magic Monkey]

Does this mean I'm gonna need to stump up the cash that I indicated I would be prepared to in that questionnaire?!

[Magic Monkey]

Which one of Smisa and GLS is English, and which is the strong Scottish connection?

Well, I'm an English SMISA member. Perhaps it's me.

[linwood buddie]

Disagree, the fan base is large enough to support at least a bid of £800K. what is needed to support it is a lump sum cash input which is presumably what Gordon is bringing to the party.

I would "Agree to Disagree" on this one mate ,I know you are more clued up on these things than I will ever be , but IMHO I don't think it is the best option for us , although i'm aware it is possibly our only option.

[davidg]

But was the undersoil heating on?

[aldo_j]

Seems rushed to me, not an email sent to the SMISA group. Definitely another party in town...guess we will find out soon enough.

[whydowebother]

But was the undersoil heating on?

Aye/Naw/Mibbae

*delete as suits your agenda

[Kemp]

I would hope if this does not go ahead this time the fans, in particular the shareholders, will start to ask serious questions of the board (and their grip on reality). Time to apply some pressure to get things going forwards for the club at last.

[Magic Monkey]

All I can really think is, thank f**k something's actually happening. The uncertainty of this phoney war has been crippling our club.

[div]

My understanding of what has happened here is that SMiSA have lodged a "proposal" to the selling consortium, rather than an actual "bid".

I assume that they want the selling consortium to agree in principle with the proposal before SMiSA then take it to their members to consider submitting a formal bid.

That kind of makes sense to me. No point in asking the members if they are all in favour of a bid, then lodging the bid only for the sellers to reject it.

SMiSA will want to go to their members and say they have agreed a price and now it's up to the members to decide whether or not to proceed on that basis. I assume SMiSA will be able to demonstrate how the numbers work in terms of repayments etc....

[Bud the Baker]

So we buy out the consortium for a sum "in the region of £1M" then buy GLS's shares on top of that and what about Ken McGeoch's shares - I'm out.

£5 a share for the lot of them.

[rea]

So we buy out the consortium for a sum "in the region of £1M" then buy GLS's shares on top of that and what about Ken McGeoch's shares - I'm out.

£5 a share for the lot of them.

Other way around i suspect.

GLS buys the consortiums shares (maybe with a wee bit of saved or quickly raised cash from SMISA) that with KMG gives the New Consortium 75% of the shares which is what is needed, then SMISA over time buy 51% back off the New consortium...hey presto Majority Fan Ownership

[Bud the Baker]

Other way around i suspect.

GLS buys the consortiums shares (maybe with a wee bit of saved or quickly raised cash from SMISA) that with KMG gives the New Consortium 75% of the shares which is what is needed, then SMISA over time buy 51% back off the New consortium...hey presto Majority Fan Ownership

Whatever it's still too much - £5 a share limited to those owned at the end of 2008 season.

I'm sure scoop1987 would agree!

[rea]

Whatever it's still too much - £5 a share limited to those owned at the end of 2008 season.

I'm sure scoop1987 would agree!

I think the average paid for them was around the £8 mark IIRC

so £800K for approx 97,000 shares would see everyone get their money back.....ish

[Drew]

I'm also a member of SMiSA, and, in signing up, I also signed over a degree of trust as to how they are conducting their business in terms of this initiative.

If they had contacted all members prior to submitting the 'proposal', there could have been two, potentially significant, issues.

First off, there is the time issue in terms of canvassing the views of members as to the proposal. With another group possibly moving in with a bid, any delay might undermine the chances of their proposal being accepted. Secondly, they would be all but publicising the detail of their proposal (it would be all over here like a rash), and this would put them at an immediate disadvantage over any competing interest whose bid would remain private and confidential.

As it is, I'm glad something appears to be moving forward. I am more hopeful than confident about the chances of fan ownership working out, but that hope (and faith) is enough to secure my support.

[rea]

I'm also a member of SMiSA, and, in signing up, I also signed over a degree of trust as to how they are conducting their business in terms of this initiative.

If they had contacted all members prior to submitting the 'proposal', there could have been two, potentially significant, issues.

First off, there is the time issue in terms of canvassing the views of members as to the proposal. With another group possibly moving in with a bid, any delay might undermine the chances of their proposal being accepted. Secondly, they would be all but publicising the detail of their proposal (it would be all over here like a rash), and this would put them at an immediate disadvantage over any competing interest whose bid would remain private and confidential.

As it is, I'm glad something appears to be moving forward. I am more hopeful than confident about the chances of fan ownership working out, but that hope (and faith) is enough to secure my support.

Perhaps now SMiSA might have a better understanding now of why 10000hours could not and would not let them share all the info we had with their members now.

A bid team simply has to get on with it and be trusted to do the job, and then bring a deal forward for both voting (though it is not the voting for it that counts) and of course outwith SMiSA fan support, so long as they dont solely go down a community share issue route then the rest will come out when it is ready

Edited January 21, 2016 by rea