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MCT notice of extraordinary general meeting


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2 hours ago, EanieMeany said:

I don’t think for a minute there’s anybody scamming anybody here, but I do think it’s very possible that a certain pair of local businessmen were interested in the club but not on the Raes’ terms at the particular moment in time for whatever reason, and when MCT came along they identified that it wasn’t (in their opinion at least*) likely to be up to the job  but would take over the club in a relatively clean way, and therefore if they held off a few years during which they could establish themselves as prominent backers (see last year’s kit launch) then they’d be able to acquire the club in a better position than they would have directly from the Rae family.
 

*The jury remains out on the capability of MCT (purely due to the early stage, I’m not dismissing the project out of hand), but there’s enough doubt, if you can call it that, about the future of it with regards to its ability to transform the club into a top flight challenger/team that would make this a good time to make an opening gambit such as a small share acquisition in the name of investment imo…if that was the strategy you were pursuing.

 

To be clear, I’m not saying I think this is definitely what’s happening, but I do think it’s a realistic possibility and if this is the strategy of said businessmen, I’d say it’s a very astute one, in all honesty, and not something that we should see as a particularly bad thing as a concept. It’d be utterly absurd to be dismissing the possibility of a takeover by such a party if the price was right, imo.

Alex Gray seems to be the Easdales man on the board so wouldn't surprise me if he's been privvy to some info on budgets (or lack of) so he promted his real bosses to take advantage and get themselves some shares.

I don't think it's malicious and not convinced it's been the plan all along but I think that's more than likely to be what's happened. 

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1 hour ago, TONofmemories said:

The problem with letting fans vote is we've a fair share of absolute moon units now with a say. 

 

Have yourself a well earned (and nowadays rare) greenie from me.  Although I would say that we have more than a fair share of moon units in our support.

It seems that Morton supporters have learned nothing from the past, and every supposedly rich person expressing an interest in the club represents a good deal.

*insert signature here*

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11 hours ago, irnbru said:

Alex Gray seems to be the Easdales man on the board so wouldn't surprise me if he's been privvy to some info on budgets (or lack of) so he promted his real bosses to take advantage and get themselves some shares.

I don't think it's malicious and not convinced it's been the plan all along but I think that's more than likely to be what's happened. 

^^^Exhibit A.

*insert signature here*

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1 hour ago, capitanus said:

Have yourself a well earned (and nowadays rare) greenie from me.  Although I would say that we have more than a fair share of moon units in our support.

It seems that Morton supporters have learned nothing from the past, and every supposedly rich person expressing an interest in the club represents a good deal.

I consider myself bless. Thanks 

TIME FOR CHANGE!

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19 hours ago, irnbru said:

Alex Gray seems to be the Easdales man on the board so wouldn't surprise me if he's been privvy to some info on budgets (or lack of) so he promted his real bosses to take advantage and get themselves some shares.

I don't think it's malicious and not convinced it's been the plan all along but I think that's more than likely to be what's happened. 

Aye, I don’t particularly think the plan I suggested is actually the case but I also don’t think it’s outwith the realms of possibility either, even if it’s just in a passive, “we’ll keep an interested eye on it way”.

I think it’s more likely people are just reading far too much, as it stands, into a pair of local businessmen who’ve been long-term backers of the club continuing to back it, in all honesty. 

AWMSC

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I know nothing of the ins and outs of these things, nor am I a mathematical or financial expert.

From what I understand the MCT membership provide £180,000 per year to the club.

Let's say potential investors want to purchase 10% of the shares, does that mean they get that 10% for £18,000? (I don't think that would be the case, but don't know either way)

IF that is the case, and depending on who these potential investors are, that £18,000 (or more) could easily be lost to MCT by members withdrawing their support. Therefore we could end up being no better (or even worse) off than we are now.

I'm happy to be corrected accordingly.

 

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I totally agree with VT that 100% fan ownership is just not viable in a industry where constant investment is needed and costs will inevitably rise year on year.

My question would be to the guys who are currently putting in the larger monthly/annual contributions as part of the current model yet are appearing to be just ordinary MCT members...how must they be feeling?....18k in the grand scheme of things really isn't any sort of significant investment at all whichever way you look at it.

What investment will be added on top of the share purchase? That's the real question. It's easy for a guy with a big bank balance to walk in and say I wanna buy this or that but what is going to be the added benefit overall. Do we sell shares and just expect investment because of the ease of purchase? Relegation or indeed promotion could make such a position farcical if we're not careful. 

We have been led to believe that MCT were looking to bring more larger contributions on board as part of normal MCT membership. Has this position now changed or been exhausted?

Are they already among the group investing a larger contribution and want more of a say? That would be an interesting question also.

Ultimately you'd like to see MCT sell shares to people who really want to put more money in than whatever shareholding they have. I'm not for a minute suggesting 18k should become 50k...but the more the merrier let's say. That has/must be the goal for MCT whether that's achievable or an unachievable pipe dream time will tell.

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I'm glad we are going to get a bit more information with regards questions people have. I've no issue with me voting either way as long as it's a vote made with as much information available to me as possible. 

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Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

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The commercial confidentiality point makes it a no vote for me. If you want to buy shares from MCT then the membership of MCT need to know who's buying them. The decision whether to sell to any investor should be for the membership as a whole, not the board of either MCT or GMFC, and therefore the membership need to have the facts about the investors to make an informed choice. No disclosure, no sale.

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Oh Lord, Brian Wake

 

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5 minutes ago, dunning1874 said:

The commercial confidentiality point makes it a no vote for me. If you want to buy shares from MCT then the membership of MCT need to know who's buying them. The decision whether to sell to any investor should be for the membership as a whole, not the board of either MCT or GMFC, and therefore the membership need to have the facts about the investors to make an informed choice. No disclosure, no sale.

I don't really know much about the intricacies of these things, but aren't MCT members meant to be the shareholders? Meaning they're entitled to know the details of "commercial" concerns? MCT isn't a vessel to put a small band of people in a wee position of power, if something like this is going to be kept secret from the membership it seems like a bit of a problem. Similarly, if these investors don't want people to know who they are then they should be told to do one straight

AWMSC

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As things stand I'm also a No vote, but if the questions I posted earlier get answered then I could be convinced to change... just depends on how secure these "block" sales are.

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I think MCT probably think we will be okay with the commercial confidentially thing because it's pretty much accepted that it's the Easdales so people know what they're voting for in a way, but to ask Morton fans with this clubs history to blindly vote to sell significant shares to people we know nothing about doesn't sit well with me, as does any potential investors requesting confidentiality until after a vote is taken. 

Will wait and see what their question and answer session looks like. I want to vote yes but they're not doing a great job of selling it so far in my opinion. 

 

Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

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I really do not understand this point in the limited Q and A:

"Our idea is to offer these shares in blocks of 5%, which would require those purchasing the shares to contribute £18,000 annually to match the MCT contributions."

1) How on earth would this be enforced?

2) Why on earth would any sane investor agree to pay an annual fee for the same single block of shares? 

Surely the more straightforward option is to allow investors to buy a stake in GMFC, on condition that future MCT capital investment would increase MCT's overall stake in the club? (Say MCT drops its share to 50.1% - ongoing investment in the club by MCT could recover its overall stake in GMFC to, say, 60% over a few years).

This would gradually reduce the stake of one-time external investors - but they would know exactly what they're putting in up front. If they want to invest more, then they can add to their existing stake and influence. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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So would the investors be buying the shares for a lump sum, as well as promising to match MCT contributions, or are they being given the shares in exchange for such a promise?

If it's the latter, why would existing patrons (MCT website FAQs say we have £50k worth of patrons income) continue with their backing on a worse deal than the investors will be getting?

Or will existing patrons be given 5% for continuing and MCT think the only way to get more on board is through the share scheme?

All very unclear.

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Perhaps I'm thick today but I don't understand the correlation between the amount MCT members contribute and the percentage ownership of the club.

The example given is this:

  • MCT shareholding drops to 50.1%
  • MCT annual contribution *remains* 180k (same as now - *remains* is the key word, and used in the example)
  • 38.9% was for sale (this being the balance of the 89% currently owned by MCT)
  • To buy those in tranches of 5% - seven such tranches in total - incurs a cost of 18k annually.
  • It is not clear how this 18k is calculated, given that it's 10% of the total of MCT's contribution, for 5% of the club's shares. But this is the example MCT have given so that is the one that I'm going to use.

This doesn't track for me because as MCT shares become scarcer - that is, as MCT becomes less of an owner - if that 180k remains in place then the contribution has actually *increased* on a per-share basis. That is, if we're paying 180k for the benefit of owning 89% of the club, that's cheaper on a per-share basis than paying 180k for the benefit of owning 50.1% of the club.

As such, the cost of buying these tranches of shares should *increase* as more of them are sold:

  • By the time we're down to 55.1% of club ownership, if the 180k contribution *remains* (as it did in the example), the buyer should instead be asked to contribute significantly more.
  • If 180k contribution at 89% ownership maps to a charge of 18k for 5%, then let's simplify it slightly and call that 200k annually for the full 100%
  • Then our *remaining* 180k contribution at 55.1% ownership maps to a charge of around 325k for the full amount of 100% of the club shares.
  • According to the 18k calculation - 5% of the club's equity mapping to 10% of the MCT contribution, prorated by ownership, the buyer of the final 5% would in fact be on the hook for 32.5k.

The alternative is that MCT is not prorating its ownership in this calculation, and that it's being treated as a static figure, and MCT's valulation and the worth of its membership is considered the same whether it owns 100% of the club or 1%, which is a complete absurdity and counter to the articles of association.

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I think the potential complexity of the issue as demonstrated above makes it clear that deciding on the night is unlikely to secure approval. Unless someone can produce a proper proposal which covers all the ground in sufficient detail to assure MCT members that this is a positive move, and them give them time to assess the pros and cons before voting, then I can't see how this will gain majority support.

I've no doubt that we need to raise more funds than we currently do through subscription but we are in danger of damaging the one thing that unites most of us ie community ownership. How do other community owned clubs square this circle? 

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"The alternative is that MCT is not prorating its ownership in this calculation, and that it's being treated as a static figure, and MCT's valulation and the worth of its membership is considered the same whether it owns 100% of the club or 1%, which is a complete absurdity and counter to the articles of association." TRVMP.

 

I sincerely hope MCT are not that naive. If MCTs position was however is strengthened resulting in shareholders having to up contributions that isn't a bad position to be in.

However as VT says how would this be policed. There is simply nothing to stop a shareholder putting in a few quid over a season or 2 and saying "that's me done here" Are we to assume shares are going to be sold within a contractual agreement to try to guarantee a return? Would shares of investors be liquidated or returned to MCT in breach of contract for example? Which is a strange way to gain investment I must admit. 

It very much looks to me that this is more than a simple buy some Morton shares but again the lack of any real coherent details just gives room for more and more questions.

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2 hours ago, port-ton said:

I think MCT probably think we will be okay with the commercial confidentially thing because it's pretty much accepted that it's the Easdales so people know what they're voting for in a way, but to ask Morton fans with this clubs history to blindly vote to sell significant shares to people we know nothing about doesn't sit well with me, as does any potential investors requesting confidentiality until after a vote is taken. 

Will wait and see what their question and answer session looks like. I want to vote yes but they're not doing a great job of selling it so far in my opinion. 

 

It had better not be the Easdales. We’re already continuing to do them a favour by giving their useless brood a “career” where it’s not deserved. If they’re wanting shares now and all they can do one or at the very least get said relative off our wage bill and onto theirs

here today, gone to hell

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