So you buy a business and then find that the entire structure and assets of company are subject to a police investigation, where it is alleged that the assets were criminal acquired. That’s a serious problem, but one which will take several years to manifest. Let’s call that Problem A.
Problem B is that you have also established that the business needs to raise cash. This is an acute problem which will manifest in a matter of months.
What’s the prognosis?
It could be 2018 before a verdict on Problem A, the criminal trial, is reached. If it’s not guilty, there are no consequences. If it’s guilty, the rightful owners of the criminally acquired assets can apply to the court to recover them. This doesn’t mean they will apply, but if they do, it’s highly likely that the court will make the award in favour of the rightful owners.
For our example, the rightful owners are creditors of a failed business, represented by a liquidator. It’s the liquidators job to get as much money for the creditors as possible, and in this instance, HMRC is the creditor with overwhelming influence.
There’s an added complexity. Although none of your directors are contaminated by the criminal investigation, there’s a concern that some of the accused are beneficiaries of shares in the company, or commercial contracts which the company has entered into. In short, the accused have left the stage, but they could still have a considerable financial interest in the success of the business, which may steel the resolve of the most influential creditor, HMRC. HMRC know such tactics well and would be reluctant to allow a convicted criminal to profit from their enterprises.
As far as Problem A is concerned, you have to allow the law to take its course and hope for a not guilty verdict. Should a guilty verdict transpire, you then have to hope to cut a deal with the liquidator (representing HMRC et al) to allow you to continue to retain title to the assets.
If the creditor was malleable, willing to come and go with you, this would be possible. Especially as the liquidator may have the opportunity of pursuing the professional indemnity (PI) insurance of some of the accused, who provided professional services relating to the transaction. Grab the PI money for the creditors and allow you, your shareholders, and the beneficiaries of your commercial contracts, to continue to benefit from ownership of the assets.
A great deal of uncertainty surrounds this, however. You would make it your business to get as close as possible to the liquidator. Make sure there’s no limit to the hospitality on offer, but ultimately, HMRC will decide how matters proceed. It may even be the case that PI money is pursued, and the assets are recovered and put on the market. There will, after all, be an eye-watering level of professional fees to cover.
Problem B is, as I said, more acute. Raising money for a business which is losing money and burning cash is difficult enough, but if there is a possibility the business has been built upon criminally acquired assets, the challenge is herculean.
The criminal trial may not conclude until 2018 (or later), and it could take a couple of years thereafter for the liquidator to petition the court for the assets and then dispose of them. In short, the assets could come back onto the market around 2020.
Problem B is for you to fund a trading deficit until 2018, then hibernate for a couple of years, and bid enough to buy the assets at auction in 2020.
In the short term all you can do is try to convince as many people as possible to become co-investors. Or put the money in yourself, of course (sorry, I know how you feel about that prospect). Then you could shower the liquidator with the kind of corporate hospitality illustrated in The Wolf of Wall St, and hope you’ve got enough credit with them to have them batting for you at the creditors’ meeting.
The prognosis? It’s not the fact that you are possibly trading with criminally acquired assets, or that your entire enterprise could be shut down with the drop of a sheriff’s gavel, that would worry me. There’s nothing you can do about that, so ignore it. The big worry is how raise the £25m to keep the lights on until you discover if you’re business’s founding fathers acted within the law.
Good luck with that.
This is an absolute minefield. No one is in control. Three years ago I suggested the best thing to do was to start from scratch at another location, this is the only way to proceed with certainty.
Share premises in Paisley, or Cowdenbeath or wherever will take you. Hope that you can carry some brand affinity (although clearly you’ll not be able to use any disputed IP, including brand names). Appoint reputable people to your board and get back to doing what you really want to do.
Behold to no one contaminated by the decades of misrule. Cut loose those who hold the onerous contracts. Allow the assets to come back onto the market in due course, knowing that by then you have all the customer goodwill you need to ensure there is no point in anyone bidding against you at auction.
The future will be nothing like the past, but at least you’ll have a future.
Celtic are the first UK club to react to the refugee crisis
“This is absolutely the right thing for us to do. Our club was formed by immigrants, many of whom had escaped the devastation of the great famine.” Tony Hamilton, Celtic FC Foundation CEO.
Proceeds from Sunday’s Jock Stein 30th Anniversary game will go to alleviating suffering of the refugees. The club will appoint a charity with expertise to ensure the assistance is productive.
I know we go on about the Foundation a lot, but it’s the most important part of our club, today and every day. Never let this change.
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Gerryfaethebrig/ St Stivs
Sorry to butt into your discourse guys but there is an obvious (to me) argument that should be adopted whenever Pater Lawell moves on from his position of CEO.
As St Stivs has pointed out the Celtic CEO is paid a very handsome wage and bonus which seems to be way beyond the salary and remuneration of any other CEO of similar sized companies.
However, I would argue that Peter Lawwell should not be replaced by one person but by two or three.
One of the failings of Celtic PLC is that Peter Lawwell does far too much, is in charge of too much and does not have an appropriate team of people around him.
There are good employees in key departments at Celtic Park but Big Pete is it.
However, he is not an entrepreneurial CEO. He is a safe hands, balance the books, type of guy and as I pointed out in a number of posts the other day that is not necessarilly what is needed at this time.
No matter who is the next Celtic CEO and no matter what they are paid, they have to take account of the things happening in European Football which are out of their control.
Celtic is being marginalised along with other clubs by UEFA who organise things for the benefit of the superclubs and the big four leagues.
Celtic have to face that and in turn they have to have a management structure which can deal with that and fight it at the same time.
Management of all things, including political management, woud improve if there were more than just PL doing the actual managing!
Just read black 12.12am
Gerrymandering
I wonder what that means ?
No need for that SSl
a heated driveway.#
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/CELTIC+CHIEF+PAYS+pounds+1.5m+FOR+LITTLE+BIT+OF+PARADISE%3B+Mansion…-a0220174453
gerry,
that was an honest predictive text error.
apoligies.
BRTH
By the way I like my golf and love your moniker, As a bhoy I had Ben Hogan clubs, I digress, i love Celtic, I don’t like the way PL is attacked by fickle fans (I myself am a fickle fan) I only want the detractors to give me a replacement, the day Peter didn’t go to Arsenal was a great day for Celtic
Anyway, methinks some people would prefer Celtic not too be winning !
ERRYFAETHEBRIG on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2015 11:09 PM
Jobo
How was the run the day good time or bad time ?
Latchford
I am a self confessed happy clapper, I love Celtic unconditionally, I would prefer th to be better much like I would prefer to win the lottery, Veltic means more to me than any Canadiam Teachers Pension fund
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–
ERRYFAETHEBRIG – I was once you back in the day. Can’t remember the first Celtic match my da’ took me to back in the sixties but it was pre-Lisbon Lions. My family moved to Castlemilk and I joined the St. Bartholomew’s CSC and followed the team all over Scotland for numerous seasons. I even gave up a Status Quo ticket and dogged school to see Scottish Cup replay at Pittodrie in early seventies – major sacrifice back then. I was one of the 75,000 that wept when Dixie smashed the ball over the bar against Inter Milan but was one of the 22,000 who turned up the following Saturday to see us beat motherwell 4-2 in a league fixture.
I moved to West Midlands in early eighties but still followed the team from afar and went to every match on my frequent visits to Glasgow. I raised two English born boys in the Celtic traditions and they are now uber-tims, the eldest went to Malmo.
Me now? Of late, I have become saddened and disillusioned at what the club has become (From Lisbon Lions to feeder club for Southampton). We don’t care if we win, lose or draw. Now, I just don’t care and judging by the empty east at CP on match days, I’m not the only one.
Latchford
Many thanks for your excellent response. I myself operate at a very senior level and communicate & meet CEO’s of major FTSE 100 companies regular. Our discussions often turn to Celtic once business is done and a similar vein is evident , who would bother with such a position when it is so scrutinised by so many in public. The roles these guys fulfill is difficult enough and 24/7 without hassle from people who are not aware of the issues encountered each & every day. I acknowledge PL does not get everything correct ( who does ?) and If there is a better candidate right now than PL I would be happy to hear how he would improve upon the current performance.
HT
I think that is the correct position iro PL. If it’s going to harm Celtic think again.
St Stivs
No bother at all, it’s received as a fellow Celtic fan, hopefully no good Celtic men fall out on here as HT already posted we all have different views but want he same thing !
Taking on DD is like fartiing into thunder.
Harvard Business review.
make your own minds up
peter is risk adverse, wont spend money in advance of CL qualification, to em , bigger the chances of getting CL qualification..
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Long CEO Tenure Can Hurt Performance
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It’s a familiar cycle: A CEO takes office, begins gaining knowledge and experience, and is soon launching initiatives that boost the bottom line. Fast-forward a decade, and the same executive is risk-averse and slow to adapt to change—and the company’s performance is on the decline. The pattern is so common that many refer to the “seasons” of a CEO’s tenure, analogous to the seasons of the year.
New research examines the causes of this cycle and shows that it’s more nuanced than that. We found that CEO tenure affects performance through its impact on two groups of stakeholders—employees and customers—and has different effects on each. The longer a CEO serves, the more the firm-employee dynamic improves. But an extended term strengthens customer ties only for a time, after which the relationship weakens and the company’s performance diminishes, no matter how united and committed the workforce is.
We studied 356 U.S. companies from 2000 to 2010. We measured CEO tenure and calculated the strength of the firm-employee relationship each year (by assessing such things as retirement benefits and layoffs) and the strength of the firm-customer relationship (by assessing such things as product quality and safety). We then measured the magnitude and volatility of stock returns. All this allowed us to arrive at an optimal tenure length: 4.8 years.
The underlying reasons for the pattern, we believe, have to do with how CEOs learn. Previous research has shown that different learning styles prevail at different stages of the CEO life cycle. Early on, when new executives are getting up to speed, they seek information in diverse ways, turning to both external and internal company sources. This deepens their relationships with customers and employees alike.
But as CEOs accumulate knowledge and become entrenched, they rely more on their internal networks for information, growing less attuned to market conditions. And, because they have more invested in the firm, they favor avoiding losses over pursuing gains. Their attachment to the status quo makes them less responsive to vacillating consumer preferences.
These findings have several implications for organizations. Boards should be watchful for changes in the firm-customer relationship. They should be aware that long-tenured CEOs may be skilled at employee relations but less adept at responding to the marketplace; these leaders may be great motivators but weak strategists, unifying workers around a failing course of action, for example. Finally, boards should structure incentive plans to draw heavily on consumer and market metrics in the late stages of their top executives’ terms. This will motivate CEOs to maintain strong customer relationships and to continue gathering vital market information firsthand.
M6bHOY
I am a St Augustines bhoy but hammered St Bartholomews many times, I drink in The Bammy (La Ronde) so if you are ever back in ML5 drop me a post and will gladly buy you a beer, if you prefer over the street Lennybhoy will sort you out he likes a wee shandy in Carsons !
Fairly fractious on here tonight.
We are all on the one road, remember. Let peace be underneath everything we do.
We will always agree more that we disagree after all.
P.S. …..thank god we voted no in the referendum. Imagine how much worse it would be with a rabid SNP about to take power and gie the polis big tartan truncheons and let the Huns off on all charges? Whew.
Good night to all………
BRTH
Surely replacing PL with 2 or 3 employees would cost more in salaries
PS – I would love a heated driveway !!
Hail Hail
:-)
i had a pleasant enough day in glasgow today, only spoiled by the ugly collective coming out of the buchanan street underground about half six,
so, lets get on to the best celtic vidoe ever.
much respect to moravcik67.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2ZKQfp7D6U
stevieq64 on 6th September 2015 12:28 am
Would you mind posting that every day.
I Propose Ms Diamond Jackson as next Ceo of Celtic…
BGX on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2015 12:42 AM
I Propose Ms Diamond Jackson as next Ceo of Celtic…
============================
Would you mind posting that every day.
Johnny Doyle, Johnny Doyle
Your memory will never be soiled
For evermore the fans will sing
Of Johnny Doyle on the wing……
A viewpark lad he was born and bred
In 76 he reached Parkhead
Forever more the fans will sing of….
Johnny Doyle on the wing……
Johnny Doyle……
Your memory will never be spoiled
For ever more the fans will sing….of …
Johnny Doyle on the wing……….
Big cup winners
..
No prob with that…If i can get back up…lets do this…
Gerryfaethebrig. No I watch the team on the pitch. But my friend the team on the pitch is dictated by the board in the boardroom. Especially at Celtic.
NegAnon2
Well actually you don’t watch the team on the pitch, what you do is act like a Harpy on CQN……..
Gerryfaethebrig
My mum taught at St Augustines and my old man was a lab technician there in the early days.
Anyway, the BRTH name is fully explained here https://broganrogantrevinoandhogan.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/chasing-the-buck/
If my wife or myself for that matter slid on ice in the driveway either walking or driving a car and we could afford it I would install a heated driveway , and I couldn’t give two monkeys what anyone else thought. Peter Lawell is the man the Board have put in place and he is paid the going rate, his job is to carry out the policy of the directors on a day to day basis if they said to him buy Messi for 150 million he would do so . I think he has the best interests of us at heart and is trying to do his best for us. HH
Megannon2
Did you watch when we won heehaw ?
Malmo I was gutted but am afraid we were rubbish that night would you prefer a superiority complex like that other other mob, for me Celtic is Celtoc , family first and Celtic is my hobby the refugees all over Europe are mor important than any football team or ridiculous signing in my eyes !
Strang thing about the Negetive posters on CQN…maybe its just me, But i Tend to See things ad they are, I dont hanker back to what was (Allegedly) or what i think they should be( in ones own mind), i Live in he Now
If i Thought so Negativly…Well…Id go take up knitting
…Spouting Negative thoughts on a blog aint gonna change a god dam thing.
.m
spelling woops
But i Can Spell Alexandra Breckinridge
..now thats what am saying..
BRTH
Before I posted on here I used to copy and paste your posts, the Ethiopean runner was brilliant (I don’t tell lies) I probably read more of your posts than MacBeth and John Steinbecks of mice and men, libe your Knowledge NUT for me Celtoc is Celtic its that simple win, lose or draw Celtic is Celtic for me it’s the way I was brought up and hopefully the way I will pass on ! By the way it think I read ore of your stuff the last couple years that Steinbeck & Shakespeare put the heather !
There are times when you realise that you cross the lexicon and enter a bizarre world.
What the hell is BGX going on about?mand Auldheid really doesn’t like being confronted about his superiority complex and his,desire for academia over the obvious.
Gerryfaethebrig. I was a season ticket holder all the way through the Huns none in a row. I remeber sitting at hampden worrying about relegation. We were terrible. I have seen us at our very very worst and I still think we were ,ore honest then than now.
BCW. Harpy is just another name in a long line of names that I have been called. I genuinely don’t care. I just don’t.
Names names names. As long as it makes you happy.
Negon
Relegation ?
You are not the wind up…. Relegation, ? We were rubbish but am afraid there is only one team that has ventured into the lower leagues
Relegation my backside but better in now I think you must be a Hun, relegation ? I am around doña forehead ! Thank Fcuk you do t like our Peter I must have missed that relegation season
Christy Moore and Declan Sinnott guest at “Later with Jools” 17 november 2006
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQTF1dLJB4E
that magic moment, when you thought you were done
and you find another pint can of stella in the fridge
1.24
Negannon.hope you enjoyed the huns NONE in a row.ml
Good night Cqn
Let the people sing
There’s only one Peter Lawell
Our God Reigns
And finally……
THE Huns are still deid and in the words of TD67
Lurking huns GIRFUY
Good night n God Bless
Gerryfaethebrig during our hampden year we wer terrible. Do you remember where we finished in the league?minwas worried that year we were so bad. So feckin sue me.
It’s funny how I answer your questions but you can’t be arsed answering mine.
How come you think Peter is so good?
And of corse you think I am a Hun dos it’s too hard for you to think for yourself.
NegAnon2
I have some sympathy for your stance at times. Nevertheless you must see where my Harpy jibe comes from ?
Neganon2
Paul Byrne, I think u remember Hamoden and if you thought we were near relegation your heid is full of smarties
By the way if we ever went to to the lower levels it would still be Celtic for me, and by the way you didn’t answer me who would replace my Uncle Peter