If the club profits are paying the interest, where is the extra investment āto take us to the next levelā coming from?
Has he just done a Glazers on us? A club our size canāt pay interest on hundreds of millions and grow at the same time.
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That would be the concern! Youād hope that heās gonna pay off his loans his self and throw some additional Ā£mās into the club, and that the loan is just a normal convenient business bro way of financing deal. Iāve got no problem with him making profits at some point in the future when the club is worth more & he flips it on, Iād have Big Problem with him getting the club effectively For Free like the Glazers done.
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Surely time for a diary update? I canāt believe Kat wouldnāt have recorded her thoughts on this.
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omg yeah I can do that! Iāve still got her number! Iāll get all the Inside Scoop!
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As far as I can see he cannot take out a loan on the club until he owns it.
he never owed it when he bought 80% so how can the loan be a lien against the club?
At this point in time it is still a loan against Gao personally and not the club.
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He can take whatever dividend he wants & use that money however he wants i.e. pay off loan
But tbf he could do that to get his Money Back whether he had loan to service or not, as far as the club finances could stand it, so not much changed really. Heās either wants to pull Ā£200m out the club coffers, or he donāt. I suspect he probably Donāt.
So basically our chinese owner is potless and will add as much as I would financially to the club. Actually I add more cos I pay for my seat.
Reallly is a chinese takeaway- turns up full of promise and leaves a nasty taste in the mouth
Well it wonāt be long to wait to find out if this is true or not. From what Ralph says this sounds like BS, unless of course we get good money for fringe players.
Either way, some clarification over the takeover would be nice as it does largely appear to be a sideways step at first glance.
Needless to say the Scousers are getting excited by that article! Ha
Potless no.
He has assets same as Marcus did and then Kat.
Currently he has used his assets (in China) to get a loan to buy an asset in the UK.
His assets including a Sports based Property Development business.
Logic dictates he is getting around Chinese Capital regulations.
He could also be clever in he is getting value (in his Capital) out of China into the West.
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You crack me up sometimes Baz 
The Bloomberg article says that the loan is secured against his assets outside of China including those in the former Portuguese colony of Macau.
It doesnāt mention the club being security.
Where did you get that snippet?
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Fiverweb having another meltdown re the times story 
Iām starting to see the wisdom of that 20% holding of Katās.
Has she effectively stymied any attempts of an incoming āpartnerā to load the club up with debt?
Iām guessing Gaoās personal shareholding could be used as security such that we might end up 80% owned by a Chinese bank.
So come on accountants and financo-geeks, prove that you arenāt all just people who canāt handle the cut and thrust of auditing, and provide answersā¦
Would Katās residual 20% stake in anyway prevent Gaoās ability to load the company with debt?
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I think thereās a very easy way to judge this takeover and weāll discover the truth within the next fortnight.
If heās potless heāll be driving VVD around the country with a For Sale sign on the roof of his Yaris hire car.
Iāll wait on that issue before I go all kneejerk-bedwetting-meltdown.
Stay calm people, stay calm.
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Word. Refusing to sell VVD & spending Ā£17m on another CB would be a strange start to a campaign of Profit Skimming.
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This is potentially better than having the loan secured against assets on the mainland. Under the constitution all land is owned by the state and private citizens can only lease it for 70 years at a time. Any property assets on the mainland can theoretically be claimed by the state at any time. Due to their colonial past I believe property law in HK and Macau is more like Europe so Gao would be less likely to have property there confiscated if he were ever to fall foul of the authorities.
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Ah, itās like the good olā summer of '14 again.
People screaming asset strip as we blew Ā£12m on Shane Long.
Sure bro, sure.
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In a word, no.
You only need 75% share to pass any decision you want.
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Thanks, @kingdom-come , so can you help me understand if you can see reasons why Kat would retain 20% - from a strategic perspective (i.e. outside of it being seen as an investment).
Maybe more @pseudo-financo-geek type.
I canāt think of any reason she would keep 20% specifically. The only thing I know it could be is she will need to be given notice of general meetings. It could be that 80% was all the cash she needed.
You are right though, Gao could definitely take a loan secured by the shares to repay the personal loan he used to buy them. Not sure if this would make financial sense as it is in essence selling equity which is generally less desirable than borrowing money. Although this is only my understanding taken from much more mundane transactions. It may be a very sensible choice with the figures and business types involved, but well over my head if it is.
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