November 29 – Scottish Premier league club Heart of Midlothian looks set to exit administration after creditors today voted in favour of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). Fan group Foundation of Hearts (the preferred bidders of the administrators BDO) offered £2.5 million towards debts of £30 million.
In effect this means that creditors will receive about 10p for every pound of debt owed by the club if the CVA is completed. The CVA comes on condition that the club’s majority shareholding (80%), held by Lithuanian group UBIG, is acquired.
Most of Hearts’ debt is owed to Lithuania’s UBIG and Ukio Bankas. They are also the club’s two main shareholders and majority owned by the club’s former president Valdimir Romanov.
Both UBIG and Ukio Bankas are in the process of being liquidated and neither were represented at the meeting of Hearts creditors.
At press time the club was due to hold a members meeting where 50% of the vote was required to approve the deal. The next stage being an agreement to buy the shares from UBIG. This can’t take place until early 2014 when UBIG hold their own creditors’ meeting.
Romanov has previously valued the club at £50 million but was unable to find a buyer. It is unlikely that it will achieve anything near this value as Romanov’s business empire crumbles around him.
Various scenarios had been proposed for the club, including Romanov retaining ownership of the stadium and renting it back to the club.
Hearts went into administration in June and started the season with a 15-point deduction. They are currently at the bottom of the league and 12 points off the next team.
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