New HSL email - No more shares

[wallpaperman]

Received the following email a short while ago.

While I voted for my money to go the buy players, I know this is going to cause some upset among people who wanted to buy shares. One question, how can the board stop people buying shares privately from another shareholder, or am I missing something?


Can I first of all wish all our Members and contributors a very Happy New Year.As you are aware Hibernian Supporters currently holds 15.3% of the shares in Hibernian. Late last year members elected to have their donations distributed in accordance with their particular wishes. As a result, from 1st October last year 65% of donations received by us have been passed to the Club to be used by the Football Dept. The remaining 35% of donations have been retained in anticipation of buying further shares.

I am now writing to you today to confirm that we have received a letter from the Club regarding the potential purchase of Shares. They have advised that “the Board is content with the balance of share ownership and will not approve the further sale or purchase of shares’’. This means that we are unable to acquire any shares from the Club or existing shareholders. It is important that this information is passed on quickly as we are aware that many Members/donators are contributing on the basis that their money will be used to buy shares. Members who currently donate to us should understand that in future we will be donating all future funds received to the Club for use by the football Dept.

The Club have passed on their thanks for all your generosity to date and have expressed a “desire to continue to work productively and proactively with HSL for the future progress and success of our Club”.

I confirm that we will seek to work with the Club to explore any and all other avenues to see how Hibernian Supporters can continue to financially support the Club.

James Adie
Chairman

[Hibbyradge]

You can still buy shares from those who hold them.

[BoomtownHibees]

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You can still buy shares from those who hold them.

What does this bit mean?

“This means that we are unable to acquire any shares from the Club or existing shareholders”

[wallpaperman]

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What does this bit mean?

“This means that we are unable to acquire any shares from the Club or existing shareholders”

Exactly, the bit I don’t understand.

[GloryGlory]

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You can still buy shares from those who hold them.

Yes. A shareholder can sell their existing, issued shares to another person on the secondary market. The e-mail wasn't well-worded, but the gist is that no NEW unissued shares will be sold by the club/company on the primary market.

[wallpaperman]

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. The e-mail wasn't well-worded, but the gist is that no NEW unissued shares will be sold by the club/company on the primary market.

Ok, fair enough that is the board’s prerogative, but I thought that was made clear month’s ago?

[Pagan Hibernia]

Surely they can’t stop individual shareholders to trade to each other?

i’ll need official HSL to clarify as the email certainly implies they won’t be able to buy shares from anyone

[emerald green]

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Received the following email a short while ago.

While I voted for my money to go the buy players, I know this is going to cause some upset among people who wanted to buy shares. One question, how can the board stop people buying shares privately from another shareholder, or am I missing something?


Can I first of all wish all our Members and contributors a very Happy New Year.As you are aware Hibernian Supporters currently holds 15.3% of the shares in Hibernian. Late last year members elected to have their donations distributed in accordance with their particular wishes. As a result, from 1st October last year 65% of donations received by us have been passed to the Club to be used by the Football Dept. The remaining 35% of donations have been retained in anticipation of buying further shares.

I am now writing to you today to confirm that we have received a letter from the Club regarding the potential purchase of Shares. They have advised that “the Board is content with the balance of share ownership and will not approve the further sale or purchase of shares’’. This means that we are unable to acquire any shares from the Club or existing shareholders. It is important that this information is passed on quickly as we are aware that many Members/donators are contributing on the basis that their money will be used to buy shares. Members who currently donate to us should understand that in future we will be donating all future funds received to the Club for use by the football Dept.

The Club have passed on their thanks for all your generosity to date and have expressed a “desire to continue to work productively and proactively with HSL for the future progress and success of our Club”.

I confirm that we will seek to work with the Club to explore any and all other avenues to see how Hibernian Supporters can continue to financially support the Club.

James Adie
Chairman

The bit in bold. What is the Board's reasoning / logic behind this decision? Has this been divulged anywhere?

[Andy74]

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Surely they can’t stop individual shareholders to trade to each other?

i’ll need official HSL to clarify as the email certainly implies they won’t be able to buy shares from anyone

What’s the point though? Fans didn’t buy shares to trade them and there will be minimal interest in doing this.

It is also a daft use of HSL money as that would go to the shareholder not the club.

[Hibbyradge]

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What does this bit mean?

“This means that we are unable to acquire any shares from the Club or existing shareholders”

Good question. I didn't notice that.

Surely I'm allowed to sell all of some of my shares to whomever I choose?

[Lago]

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Good question. I didn't notice that.

Surely I'm allowed to sell all of some of my shares to whomever I choose?

Yes you are.

[green day]

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The bit in bold. What is the Board's reasoning / logic behind this decision? Has this been divulged anywhere?

I think it was made clear months ago that RG wanted to take full control of the club and that the cash he spent on a certain %age of the club meant he retained control.

This new communication confirms he isnt going to dilute his own shareholding (which is what Tom Farmer was doing, effectively diminishing his own shareholding for the benefit of the club).

Wonder what the "Tom Farmer ponzi scheme" guys are thinking now

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What’s the point though? Fans didn’t buy shares to trade them and there will be minimal interest in doing this.

It is also a daft use of HSL money as that would go to the shareholder not the club.

I agree that using HSL cash to go to shareholders rather than on the pitch is a bit daft.

However if people are concerned that RG has too large a holding, (I think that) people could gift their shares to HSL, or (cannae remember how it works) give HSL their voting rights or some other mechanism?

This was all mentioned some time back.

I am sure that Jim will clarify once the HSL guys have had a think about next steps.

[Gloucester Hibs]

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What’s the point though? Fans didn’t buy shares to trade them and there will be minimal interest in doing this.

It is also a daft use of HSL money as that would go to the shareholder not the club.

I’m a HSL member and a shareholder, I’d be happy to sell/donate my shareholding to HSL if it helped us achieve the required % (25%?) that would help safeguard the club. Looks like that is no longer a target for HSL.

[Jack]

One thing in thinking here is that the club used to facilitate the transfer of shares i.e. from a shareholder to HSL and they won't even be doing that to benefit HSL.

[Andy74]

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I’m a HSL member and a shareholder, I’d be happy to sell/donate my shareholding to HSL if it helped us achieve the required % (25%?) that would help safeguard the club. Looks like that is no longer a target for HSL.

It’s safeguarded anyway. Hibs fans in general own the other shares. One body representing them all makes no real odds.

[Pagan Hibernia]

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What’s the point though? Fans didn’t buy shares to trade them and there will be minimal interest in doing this.

It is also a daft use of HSL money as that would go to the shareholder not the club.

I care about the amount of shares in supporter hands to be able to stop any funny business in the future. Not really arsed that much where the money goes. The fact that the original HSL scheme also put money into the club was a nice bonus

[Pagan Hibernia]

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It’s safeguarded anyway. Hibs fans in general own the other shares. One body representing them all makes no real odds.

there are a lot of shares in the hands of obscure nominee holdings. We don’t know who they are or what their intentions might be in the event of a hostile takeover

[Andy74]

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I care about the amount of shares in supporter hands to be able to stop any funny business in the future. Not really arsed that much where the money goes. The fact that the original HSL scheme also put money into the club was a nice bonus

We’ve got that already.

[Gloucester Hibs]

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It’s safeguarded anyway. Hibs fans in general own the other shares. One body representing them all makes no real odds.

I don’t think that’s 100% certain TBH? What’s the % of small shareholders as per the latest info? There were also ‘nominee shareholders’ with a large chunk but it’s was far from clear those were Hibs supporters IIRC?

[Andy74]

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Yes you are.

Not necessarily.

It’s a private company that can’t offer shares to the public. There’s very likely restrictions in the Articles on accepting transfers. The Directors probably don’t have to.

I know they’ve accepted transfers in the past but doesn’t mean they’d have to keep doing so, particularly if they thought there was a cash market going on for them.

[Pagan Hibernia]

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We’ve got that already.

we don’t know that for sure

[madhatter]

Club better announce these ambitious plans shortly because everything is added up to something that isn’t particularly good. New ownership means change, that’s understood...but the shape this change takes needs to be explained to the fans.

[Andy74]

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I don’t think that’s 100% certain TBH? What’s the % of small shareholders as per the latest info? There were also ‘nominee shareholders’ with a large chunk but it’s was far from clear those were Hibs supporters IIRC?

Nominees are just a vehicle to hold shares. The likelihood of any non Hibs fans buying shares that can’t be traded is very slim. Not worth worrying about. They’ll be folk who just want their purchases and details to be private.

[Gloucester Hibs]

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Nominees are just a vehicle to hold shares. The likelihood of any non Hibs fans buying shares that can’t be traded is very slim. Not worth worrying about. They’ll be folk who just want their purchases and details to be private.

Fair enough mate, I’m not really that clued up these things. I’ll sleep a bit easier tonight!

[Golden Bear]

So as a small shareholder it looks as though I could sell my shares directly back to the Club who in turn will increase their own shareholding and not make them available for re-distribution. I think.

[lyonhibs]

So if I now make a donation to HSL, it's guaranteed that money will go directly to footballing matters instead of faffing about with share purchasing?

Might treat myself if that's the case....

[matty_f]

I think this is a good point to properly re-purpose HSL as a vehicle to contribute funds to the club.

Fan ownership is no longer on the cards, and with no debt repayments to STF due there's no reason for any of the ponzi scheme crap to come up again, shop there is a real opportunity of a clean start here.

It has the potential to be completely unambiguous.

Contribute and support a healthier, more competitive team.

No politics, little in the way of running costs and no need for any complexity in the message.

If HSL get this next stage right, it could be a game changer for the club.

[Since90+2]

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I think this is a good point to properly re-purpose HSL as a vehicle to contribute funds to the club.

Fan ownership is no longer on the cards, and with no debt repayments to STF due there's no reason for any of the ponzi scheme crap to come up again, shop there is a real opportunity of a clean start here.

It has the potential to be completely unambiguous.

Contribute and support a healthier, more competitive team.

No politics, little in the way of running costs and no need for any complexity in the message.

If HSL get this next stage right, it could be a game changer for the club.

Totally agree. Needs to be rebranded though.

[Golden Bear]

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I think this is a good point to properly re-purpose HSL as a vehicle to contribute funds to the club.

Fan ownership is no longer on the cards, and with no debt repayments to STF due there's no reason for any of the ponzi scheme crap to come up again, shop there is a real opportunity of a clean start here.

It has the potential to be completely unambiguous.

Contribute and support a healthier, more competitive team.

No politics, little in the way of running costs and no need for any complexity in the message.

If HSL get this next stage right, it could be a game changer for the club.

Absolutely

👍

[Billy Whizz]

I’m a monthly contributor, where will my money be going now, as I wanted it go on buying shares