A surge- Big Bath City Bid

I keep an eye on the Big Bath City Bid total and it has surged a bit this week.

Its now at £176k with 192 investors.

Add the crowdfunding circa £7k and the £55k put in up front and that's a remarkable £238k in less than 3 months.

We can surely get a bit closer in the next couple of weeks.

A winning team may have boosted confidence all round!

p.s. it took us well over a year to get the £250k in 2002/3!

Am I right in thinking the business investors do not appear on the bid total website?

Not sure what the answer to that is

1 think the figure is higher as recent cheques haven't been added.

What is the £55K 'upfront'? Is this shares held by the Society?
I guess there may be existing individual shareholdings to be transferred over too?

Yes I think there are.

I don't have the full detail I am afraid but it's all going in the right direction.

it needs any waverers to come forward asap so we can get closer to the total......

2weirdtown wrote:What is the £55K 'upfront'?  Is this shares held by the Society?  
I guess there may be existing individual shareholdings to be transferred over too?

The £55k refers to the sum raised by the Bid team to pay one of the club's creditors back in the Spring. This led to the deadline for full payment being extended to September and is separate to the £750k minimum target.

The total has now gone up to £181k.

Going well.......

I can confirm that the on-line total does include business investors. All cheques received to date are also included in the total.

There was someone at the Academy game complaining that he didn't know how he could purchase shares.

Then again he also had a few digs about the management so I quickly moved on.

I find it hard to believe that someone with Pete's apparent management experience and one of the driving forces of this bid doesn't understand the financial side of the bid and is posting such misleading information as his 1st and 2nd posts on this thread.

A question for the Bid committee: Is the bid closure date going to be extended just like the Pitch In date has been without any apparent official statement being made?

I am part of the bid team but holidays and distance mean I don't have precise and full detail.

I think Martin came in and filled the gaps.

The important thing is to keep up the enthusiasm for the bid. It's been a positive day so I wanted to reflect that.

It is important to stay positive and it is really good news that the total is moving in the right direction, remember there is no plan B apart from selling the asset.
I get feedback from people saying they would buy shares but they have not done so as they don't think the target will be reached - it is very important that they now do so. If the figure can be pushed up towards the 300K mark there is a very good chance it will catch the imagination of the business sector and we really can reach the target.

Too late..., for obvious reasons, as we are moving towards the deadline, there is not going to be any talk of an extension to the deadline, not least because it is not up to us, it would have to be agreed with the directors that are owed money by the club - note, not the Bid.

Nick and Shane from the Bid team talk to the board regularly and, obviously, let them know what is going on funds-wise (if they are unaware).

As far as Pete is concerned, as he says, he is doing a lot from a long way away so can't be expected to know the exact details. Not only that but in any organisation, you are going to have different people with different skillsets and different specialities. For instance, I am in some Bid meetings but my area isn't really about financing and share holdings. Pete Mac's may be but I can understand it is hard to keep up from afar.

Can we also do away with this "leading light/driving forces of the bid" stuff? The idea is that there is going to be one share/one vote so everyone is going to have their say and be able to bring their expertise, enthusiasm, energy, experience and skills to the club. Presently, there is a team in place that is concerned with getting the bid over the line and have specific skills for this. This doesn't mean that they are leading lights, driving forces nor that they are "the Bid". It also doesn't mean that when the bid goes through that they are "the Board". It certainly doesn't mean that they are solely responsible for the success of the bid. It is down to all of us. Martin and I put out some appeals for volunteers and got some very dedicated people helping. However, we could always do with some help here - manning the stalls before the game, shaking the buckets after. Also, it is up to all of us to encourage friends to buy shares or ask at the companies and organisations that we work for.

yuffie, the figure on the microgenius site includes all monies pledged including the companies. You will note that the House Agency are listed down there. Others may coming as microgenius admin as these are often cheque payments that are paid in. Obviously, there may be some of these to still be paid in.

I am checking about the extension to the crowdfunding deadline but someone else from the Bid may post on here in the meantime.

comrade powell wrote:

2weirdtown wrote:What is the £55K 'upfront'?  Is this shares held by the Society?  
I guess there may be existing individual shareholdings to be transferred over too?

The £55k refers to the sum raised by the Bid team to pay one of the club's creditors back in the Spring. This led to the deadline for full payment being extended to September and is separate to the £750k minimum target.

I was always wondering why the Pitch In appeal was £55,000. It seemed a very unlikely number, why not just £50,000 or £60,000? A very co-incidental figure if it is not directly relevant!

I note that the Pitch In appeal says that the money will be used to assist in making Bath City a community club.  To a cynical person like myself it would appear then that the appeal is actually to pay off what is a secondary debt on top of the £750,000.

Even if the £750,000 is raised then there will be more money needed on top (technically £1 each for every share currently held, so maybe up to £½m) as many shareholders will not want to or be able to afford to convert there current shares into community shares. It looks like yet again a supporters takeover is starting with the prospect of continuing debt.

So who was that £55,000 borrowed from? And what are the terms for it to be payed back?

Obviously, there will be money needed on top - the Bid has always been about raising £1.4m to cover running costs.

Again, I will check why the figure of £55,000 was arrived at. As you say, it is clear that "the money raised...will contribute to the community buy-out of Bath City FC."

As far as the shareholders being paid off is concerned, as much as we are hoping to raise £1.4 million, we are hoping that all current shareholders - who were obviously generous enough to want to help the club out way back when - will convert the shares they already have. If they don't by the deadline, then we will have to look at the situation as it is then, just as we will with the Crowdfunder and microgenius money.

Just to clarify - the Bid team initially agreed to a £1.4m target figure that would pay off all debts except for a small bank loan, buy all outstanding shares and provide for working capital.

Under new chairmanship, the Bid team was then able to negotiate this figure down to £1.25m.

It was also able to negotiate a separate, minimum figure of £750,000 that would pay of SOME BUT NOT ALL of the debt and provide working capital - no provision for purchasing shares. This is all in the prospectus - we've been clear from the launch that raising £750K would not mean a debt-free club, but one that would be in a stronger position to clear its debts because of the renewed energy, interest etc stemming from being a community-owned club.

If the Bid reaches £750K, this will trigger a vote of BCFC shareholders on whether to convert shares to community shares, with a 75% majority needed. We believe that we are close to this 75% majority, but if this vote fails then monies will be returned.

I stepped down from the Bid team before the Pitch In initiative was launched so I can't tell you anything about that I'm afraid.

I was just wondering if there are any wealthy people/businesses who have made a serious verbal commitment to invest substantially in the bid but havent done so yet. The target is still a long way off and to have some 'big hitters' still waiting in the wings would be great.Obviously i dont expect any names.

Best way to get the big hitters off the sidelines is by demonstrating that there is real popular momentum behind the campaign!!!

I completely agree but it doesnt really answer the question!

Yes I know

Ooh you big tease!

Too Late... wrote:I note that the Pitch In appeal says that the money will be used to assist in making Bath City a community club.  To a cynical person like myself it would appear then that the appeal is actually to pay off what is a secondary debt on top of the £750,000.

If you look at the prospectus almost the entire amount of money being raised is to pay off debt. There is no secondary debt.

The whole point of making the club a community club is so that we stop this spiral of debt associated with running a football club. The club has to work 365 days a year not just 23 saturdays. It is not so that a bunch of people can take over the club. That way just perpetuates the current situation.

The supporter's society has organised the campaign because quite frankly no one else was going to. I do not see anyone else on a white charger riding in to rescue the club.

This is a chance to pay off the rising debt and start again with a different model of running the club. One in which if you own a share your opinion counts equal to everyone else.

OliverH wrote:Best way to get the big hitters off the sidelines is by demonstrating that there is real popular momentum behind the campaign!!!

A number of people have indicated to me that they aren't investing because they don't think we'll achieve it.

I find this astonishing that they do not see that if they don't invest we won't reach the target.

The whole point for me is that none of us will be investing a penny unless the bid IS successful. Not a penny has been taken and nor will it unless the bid goes ahead.

Pledge your money and then you can really see if we COULD achieve it.

Well said BenE! We are running out of time - now is the moment to get off the fence.

Pledging on Microgenius takes less than 10mins - it's just a pledge, you GET YOUR MONEY BACK if we don't hit the target.

Some people will always wait to see momentum before committing to things like this - HELP US GET THEM OFF THE FENCE by taking action today.

The latest official


http://us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=eaae973744f9b9da5d103f53e&id=0a851af0d2&e=216d7757ab