We've already done a few numbers this summer. But old Ferret reckons there's at least two more that need to be lodged safely somewhere before it all kicks off again on the takeover front.
11.1 and 29.9.
For those of you that have missed all the fun and games before, two other key numbers are �56 mill – the price the Canaries all but valued themselves at – and �20 mill. The price that Towergate chief Peter Cullum reckoned he'd whack into Roeder's palm if he got control of the club. For nothing.
In amongst those two are other little gems – here we go.
From the club's original statement itself: 'The figure includes �16 million to buy up shares at the current issue price of �30 each, �16 million to pay off the club's bank debt, which would be called in if a takeover went through, and �4 million to repay loans from directors.”
Now, courtesy of this week's accounts, we now know what number triggers those repayments. The �20 million – �16 mill to the banks, �4 million to the directors.
50%. That the repayment of the Turners loan happens earlier than 18 May 2017 if 'Ms D A Smith and E M S Wynn Jones ceasing between them to be the registered holders of at least 50% of the ordinary share capital of the company….
OK, so Delia and Michael currently own 61.2% of the shares in the club – therefore they can afford to 'give away' an 11.1 per cent stake in City before any of that is triggered. That way it would leave them with 50.1% of the shares and it would leave both the Turners and the banks to wait for their cash.
Cos it ain't rocket science to work out these days that if you offered either HBOS or AXA the merest whiff of a chance to get their share of that �16 million back, they'd take it. Now. No questions.
Delia and Michael whittle down their shareholding to 50.1% and City save themselves, potentially, the best part of �20 million.
So that's 11.1.
What's 29.9? That's the old Carson Yeung figure. Go back to last season's fiasco at Blues and that 29.9 is still imprinted on the minds of every Bluenose; tattoed across the forehead of the Sullivans and the Golds.
Because you own more than 29.9% of the shares in a Plc and you have to make a full, takeover bid. Yeung got to 29.9% and stopped – he never raised the finance to complete his takeover; he never bought out the remaining 70.1% of the shares.
So for any potential new investor, that's another key figure; whether you'd settle for taking a 29.9% stake in the Canaries in the knowledge that the Smiths still – in theory – enjoyed a controlling interest with their 50.1% 'bloc'.
Do it that way, however, and again you avoid triggering that �16 million bank repayment; flood some unissued shares into the system and those numbers can be made to work; you can get there without giving either HBOS or AXA a sniff.
Interesting stuff – for those who like a few late night numbers.
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