Kevin Heaney and Cornish Homes

As it becomes more apparent that Kevin Heaney is just more than a bit player with the 'Preferred Bidder' (how I hate those two words -preferred by Brendan but not the rest of us), I thought I'd dig out an article I remember reading some time back. The bloke has history as you'll see from the article below. He did 162 businesses out of much needed income by liquidating Cornish Homes whilst his other businesses flourished. At least with PAFC all the various companies were completely in the mire.

Although I know he will (or should not) have any involvement with the PAFC Football company, I can't help feeling that things are going to be far from secure whilst he is in the background.

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/LIQ...es-creditors/story-11449575-detail/story.html


I see the West Briton newspaper had blocked any comments on this story. I hope not606 isn't so sensitive.

 

No scruples...........watch out Argyle.........we might not have yet hit the bottom of the cesspit.

 

No doubt I'll get lambasted for this, but here goes anyway.

It's absolutely standard practice across business for separate business activities to be isolated in separate limited companies PRECISELY to ensure that if one business goes under, it doesn't bring down the rest of the house of cards. This is especially true in the high risk construction & contracting industries.

I remember being involved in trying to sign contracts with the group controlled by an individual with a net worth of c. £125m, including extensive property assets which should give the most secure credit rating possible. However, the limited company we were being asked to trade with contained something close to zilch with all the assets elsewhere and no parental company guarantees. It had been structured that way entirely to protect the assets and you either wanted the job or you didn't.

It's entirely legal and its a case of caveat venditor i.e. it's up to the supplier to make sure he knows which entity he's dealing with and what the risks of that are. Just because the headline is that the guy at the top has money, that's no guarantee at all you'll get your hands on any of it if things go wrong.

Not only is it entirely legal, it's the basic underlying principle of limited company trading, which fuelled the boom in prosperity from the Victorian age onward. We'd still be living in a peasant society if it didn't exist.

One obvious exception would be if assets had been moved out of the failed company just before its collapse but that's an entirely different situation and the papers can't be expected to do other than ignore legal facts in pursuit of a good story.

Let's take this for an example. "One of the few creditors who attended, Derek Giles, whose Helston-based construction company DA Giles was owed £38,222 for work at Truro City’s grounds, said: "I’m pretty fed up really.

"Our debt was not with Cornish Homes but Truro City Football Club.

"We were told to invoice Cornish Homes and subsequently it’s not being paid."

Are you telling me that the owner of a construction company didn't know who he was working for? Because if not, he's not safe to be out. Was he invoicing someone who had no contractual obligation to him? Because if he was, he's a liability to himself.

 

Can't find a link distant but the Cornish Guardian reported Heaney taking out large contacts with local suppliers immediately before the Cornish Homes liquidation for materials and services for alleged use by his other companies. Your reply may be lengthy but I prefer Plymborn's 'No scruples'.

 

As an ex Truro resident I can tell you that Kevin Heaney basically ****ed over an awful lot of people and couldn't give a toss. Ok this might be standard practice for some people but he was not paying people for supplies and work they carried out, knowing he was going to liquidate Cornish Homes.

I reckon him and Ridsdale will make a beautiful couple!

I wouldn't be surprised if Ridsdale walks away in the not too distant future and Heaney and co make a mint out of property deals, then relocate Truro City to Home Park when it becomes obvious to Ridsdale that no money can be made from Argyle. I might be being pessimistic but I do know people who lost out big time through Mr Heaney's dealings.

 

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I think as you have commented Joe.

Heaney has been desperate to take ownership of a Football League club for ages but I think it more likely he will sell up in Truro and then take over at Argyle later on. Particularly if we are pushing for promotion again soon.

 

As a comment not as a threat, I think you guys need to be a bit careful about making what would be career ending accusations.

I have my reservations about the inside line Ridsdale has had in all this, both in having a pre-existing relationship with the administrator AND working within the target bisness during the process. However, there's no evidence to suggest actual wrongdoing.

Don't forget the administrator had to get his proposals through a vote by the creditors, it's not as if he makes the selection all by himself.

 

The comments most people are making are just opinions not accusations, Distant but I take your point.

Mind you I have not seen any news on whether the deal has been given the go ahead yet.

 

I appreciate that but to say a professional has taken "bungs" is about as bad a thing as can be said and whilst there are oddities about the situation we find ourselves in, I fail to see any evidence of wrongdoing myself, apart from Buttivant's complaints of mistreatment of which we don't know the detail.

 

Well distant, some thing dodgy about it all. May not be not wrongdoing as we all see it. But i get accused of taking backhanders/bungs to get some bigger jobs, i take no notice,but it goes on in types of work! We are allowed our opinions surely.

 

Joe

Of course you are entitled to an opinion but I'm not sure if you are fully aware what an absolutely damning thing it is to say about a professional like Guilfoyle.

If it came to be believed there were backhanders flying, he would quite literally never work again.

It's probably the career equivalent of suggesting a teacher's interest in children isn't entirely a proper one.

 

Understand, but its happening every were, i stated that this happens in our industry all the time, but what can one do? It seems a bit fishy that Ridsdale has worked with him before and everyone knows of his past. Mr Heaney has a reputation it seems! People in the profession must sometimes have thought about the way it all gets done.

 

Yeah, I'm not entirely comfortable with that, but then, people do work with people they've worked with successfully before, whether it be lawyers or accountants or administrators [if you are unlucky enough to go that way more than once].

Professionals who cross the line get struck off though and that's the end of their earnings potential, so 99% are kosher, they can earn so much that bungs aren't worth the risk.

There's no doubt Ridsdale got himself in a very cosy position. While the other bidders had to pay good money to do their background investigations, Ridsdale was sitting in the PAFC office 5 days a week and was probably drafting the answers to the questions raised by his competitors! How sweet a spot is that? Still, the guy went out & got what he wanted and if he does half as well for PAFC as he's done for himself, I suspect we won't have any complaints,

 

I find it hard to understand/believe how someone with Guilfoyle's experience would even enter into negotiations with someone who he didn't know who they were !

 

He does know who they are! They are a Gibraltar based company which proved to him that it has the funds necessary to complete the transaction. That's all he needs to know really, it's us who'd like to know more.

 

1 agree there are a few comments close to the mark, surely guilfoyle has one job to do and that is to sell the failed business to the highest bidder when they becone the preferred bidders with various deadlines for payments and a final deadline for signature which i thought was today.
heaney cannoy play any part unless he resigns from truro. the other thing that concerns me is, are there any previous directors in the consortium at arms length. the total secrecy is unhelpful and is bound to make everyone suspect the worst, but as long as your excellent manager remains, i think most things are ok, but not all. what is behind moving the hq of the club from home park. in my view a little more sewage may creep out of this tale yet, but hang in there, good luck and i hope you have a goalie for the 6/8/11

 

Sorry notdistantgreen he maintained he didn't know who they were, and why risk your reputation on an unknown buyer

 

If things are soooo squeaky clean why the need for secrecy ?

 

Undoubtably there have been 'negotiations going on but don't believe that there is nothing in it for rissole etc, but remember without risdale we woulnt exist at all. Effort and belief is all that is requiredr