Swans in talks with potential investors

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/swansea-city-confirm-early-stage-8011859

 

19:17


Within the last hour, Swansea City have confirmed they are in early-stage discussions with potential investors that could see them taking what the club call a 'small' equity stake in the Premier League outfit.

A club statement, issued to Walesonline, said: "It must be stressed that this is only a possibility and the club has not received any formal offers to date as discussions are only at an early stage.

"The board of directors believes they have proved over the years that the decisions they make are in the club's and fans' best interests.

"This philosophy is a priority and any future investment will only be accepted if it is right for the club and fans."

 

The club has been looking for investors for a few months now. I dont like Foreign investors myself even though that is where the big money is as they soon take over everything in a short time. Unfortunately foreign investors are plenty where home investors are few and far between.....and we really need some investors to remain in the top flight as that is the way it is....

 

I just hope it isn't crazy Italians

 

How about another whip around, this time using that 'Kickstarter' website which has global reach?!

Minimum £10 pledge, Maximum £1,000. All goes to the funds of the Trust for the purposes of increasing it's stake in the club.

 

I paid 20 quid to something or other, cant remember what, was it the supporters trust?

 

The questions should be 'why do we need it?' and 'what do these investors expect out of the deal?'

No matter how much money is poured into our Club we have a small catchment and would never fill a 40,000+ stadium every week imo so we're never going to generate a massive income from bums on seats. Hell, even some Championship clubs get bigger crowds. That's just the way it is.

The Board know more about the finances than the rest of us but I just wonder where this is going.

 

Our club revenue streams are three-fold: stadium (season tickets, match day tickets, hospitality etc), Media (tv rights, sponsorship, etc), Merchandise / Fan Monetization. The annual stipend from the EPL probably goes under media. We can grow media and merchandise / fan monetization. As DB said above, we have a limited catchment radius although good transportation channels into the area make it easier for people to travel from out west and east by train into town.

Media is going to grow through sponsorship and to do that we must create a better platform for sponsorship and have an appropriate strategy.

Merchandise / fan monetization can have global reach .... but check out our web site and compare to the likes of Real Madrid. Forget about club size, club size has nothing to do with a properly structured web site. The layout of the home page, support for several languages, ease of navigation to monetizing zones and simple access to ticket and hospitality options and purchase and most importantly merchandise purchases through the on-line store are vastly superior. In comparison our site is junk. This is where we can and must improve. Internationalizing our fan base and monetizing that community is the pathway to revenue diversification and growth. If we do this aggressively the need for outside investment can be mitigated.

 

I would think some of the shareholders would like to extract some of their cash and that's the main reasoning

 

Another reason for talking to potential investors is not for additional equity financing for growth but for existing shareholders to cash out. Who is in the poor house and needs to generate cash? Who wants to put money to work elsewhere? Who is "tired" of this investment? Answer these questions and you'll have a better idea of what and why.

>>edit) Sorry, MoN, just saw your post, you beat me to it. I think this could be one of the drivers behind this.

 

Agree that the website is terrible, Yankee. It's the Club's window on the world and has to be put right.

 

Mon and yankee have it spot on imo.

Some members want to cash in but maybe not all of their shares perhaps ?

I do know that anyone who wants to buy into us will wnt a return on the investment the only toclubs in the premier league that proper backers are chelse nd man city, the rest wnt. Pound of flesh , no matter how its dressed up this is all bout some board members wnting to release some of the equity they havebuilt up, i dont blme thm but it will mke us. Poorer club for it imo .

 

It's speculative, but also difficult to disagree with that Norway.

 

Every investment has it's risks. Your investment can go up and down and projected returns are not guaranteed. I'm sure the investors will read the smallprint.

Did any of the shareholders have shares in lieu of a wage when we went through the crisis? Probably only fair that they are able to cash in a bit of their investment

 

If it happens I suspect that those up the M4 will say they're 'cashing in' and put a negative spin on it, Master. But like you I agree that those who have paid in and supported the Club should benefit now times are good.

Besides who cares what those up the M4 think?

 

Rumour talk is that John Moores is in talks with the club.

 

An alternative to cashing out to a third party is for the club to repurchase the shares back into the treasury. This would shift the balance of ownership, and potentially improve the value of the outstanding shares. It would also avoid the risk of dancing with a new partner. As has already been stated above a new investor would likely have different priorities and demands in terms of the returns expected - not necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on their buy-in to the club's philosophy and their degree of control.

 

As Never said

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29836132

 

SSN Link.
http://www1.skysports.com/football/...go-padres-owner-in-talks-to-invest-in-swansea

 

I'd be happy with an American onboard if he/she has the ability and know how on how to maximise our commercial opportunities in the US.