| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land 23:56 - Mar 2 with 159611 views | Muncher |
I’ve been doing a bit of digging at HM Land Registry today and what I have seen backs up what Phil has previously mentioned and leads me to believe the takeover is well underway and likely just waiting EFL approval.
The Playford Road site (2 parcels of land) is the subject of a priority search in respect of an intended purchase by Gamechanger 20 Ltd which was lodged on 23 February by law firm Gateley PLC out of their Birmingham office (first instruction by that client).The Bent Lane site is subject to a similar priority search in respect of part of the site only, meaning the Evans group company is retaining part of it.
A priority search is carried out by solicitors to preserve their place in the queue of potential applications for dealing, it confers a priority period of about 45 days. It is a matter of public record and available to view by professionals who have the requisite portal account. It is typically only done in the immediate anticipation of completing a transaction, it can be done slightly ahead of this, but usually is done on the day of exchange of contracts. I’m a commercial property solicitor so carry out these searches on a regular basis. My best guess (based on the timing of the search) is Evans likely entered into a conditional contract last Tuesday for the sale of the land (and club). You would not carry out such a search unless a deal including the detail had either been agreed or was extremely close. The reason such searches are not carried out lightly is because it prevents the proprietor from entering into other transactions while the priority is lodged. If a deal is not happening you should cancel the search, but all 3 remain in place.
There is no corresponding priority search in respect of the stadium lease and I would not expect there to be as the lease is owned by the club as tenant and I would expect Gamechanger 20 Ltd is acquiring the existing share capital owned by Evans.
I am happy to share screenshots if anyone would like to see, but the searches are in relation to the Playford Road site (title number SK219236 & SK203140) and the bent lane site (SK200320) they appear under the “application enquiry” tab.
EDIT:
I have now have a placed a brief article on my firm's website here discussing it:
https://prettys.co.uk/news/takeover-ipswich-town-football-club-could-be-progress
[Post edited 8 Mar 2021 12:59]
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 18:18 - Mar 15 with 5080 views | Lord_Lucan |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 18:13 - Mar 15 by Muncher |
The searches are still in place at the moment.
We don't know anything for certain about this process other than the searches were lodged and we know what that normally means in a transaction such as this.
Even if the parties are under contract it will be conditonal on EFL approval, it may be conditional upon other things. It's not inconcievable there would be a break provision in the event of a significant upturn in league position. If I were advising Evans it would be something that I would try to incorporate, there is only so much we can tell from this position on the outside. |
So basically nothing is going to be done until it is determined whether or not we are going up - and if we do then the price goes up by £10m |  |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 18:29 - Mar 15 with 4987 views | Muncher |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 18:18 - Mar 15 by Lord_Lucan |
So basically nothing is going to be done until it is determined whether or not we are going up - and if we do then the price goes up by £10m |
Who knows.
Promotion could be dealt with by an earn out clause, so it’s not necessarily that. For me the most uncertain part of the deal is the long term external funding they would need. Price should be relatively easy to agree on, promotion can be factored in, if you got so far down the line you can get comfortable with the people you are selling to, it’s the funding from a party with no equity in the game that would be my concern, but as I say, who knows? | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 19:38 - Mar 15 with 4766 views | ArnieM |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 18:18 - Mar 15 by Lord_Lucan |
So basically nothing is going to be done until it is determined whether or not we are going up - and if we do then the price goes up by £10m |
FFS, ONLY this Club could be penalised for gaining promotion!! You couldn’t f lucking write it could you! |  |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 08:36 - Mar 16 with 4344 views | itfcpaul |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 18:29 - Mar 15 by Muncher |
Who knows.
Promotion could be dealt with by an earn out clause, so it’s not necessarily that. For me the most uncertain part of the deal is the long term external funding they would need. Price should be relatively easy to agree on, promotion can be factored in, if you got so far down the line you can get comfortable with the people you are selling to, it’s the funding from a party with no equity in the game that would be my concern, but as I say, who knows? |
What do you think will happen with your experience in these things, vastly superior to mine? | |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:02 - Mar 16 with 4137 views | kaibe |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 18:29 - Mar 15 by Muncher |
Who knows.
Promotion could be dealt with by an earn out clause, so it’s not necessarily that. For me the most uncertain part of the deal is the long term external funding they would need. Price should be relatively easy to agree on, promotion can be factored in, if you got so far down the line you can get comfortable with the people you are selling to, it’s the funding from a party with no equity in the game that would be my concern, but as I say, who knows? |
No update yet? Hopefully still on there. Will be a good indication to whether or not the deal is on or off. | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:19 - Mar 16 with 4049 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 18:18 - Mar 15 by Lord_Lucan |
So basically nothing is going to be done until it is determined whether or not we are going up - and if we do then the price goes up by £10m |
Thats everything that I'm expecting. The stall of the takeover, seems intrinsically linked with our upturn in form.
However, that being said, when first mooted, we were still in a good position for the play offs. So maybe its linked to a top 2 finish?
Its all a bit weird though, they are already paying through the nose at £30m. But I assume if we are in the Champ, Evans will want more of his money back, and that could be the issue. |  |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:22 - Mar 16 with 4023 views | hype313 |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:19 - Mar 16 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Thats everything that I'm expecting. The stall of the takeover, seems intrinsically linked with our upturn in form.
However, that being said, when first mooted, we were still in a good position for the play offs. So maybe its linked to a top 2 finish?
Its all a bit weird though, they are already paying through the nose at £30m. But I assume if we are in the Champ, Evans will want more of his money back, and that could be the issue. |
Call me cynical, but I do wonder if Evans has changed his thinking and now views us as having a far higher chance of promotion, therefore changing his valuation and goalposts than a few months ago... |  |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:34 - Mar 16 with 3978 views | Muncher |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:02 - Mar 16 by kaibe |
No update yet? Hopefully still on there. Will be a good indication to whether or not the deal is on or off. |
The searches are still there this morning. | | | |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:34 - Mar 16 with 3977 views | dirtyboy |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:22 - Mar 16 by hype313 |
Call me cynical, but I do wonder if Evans has changed his thinking and now views us as having a far higher chance of promotion, therefore changing his valuation and goalposts than a few months ago... |
Or maybe he's just pinched all the plans from the proposed new owners and intends to implement them himself lol! |  | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:51 - Mar 16 with 3897 views | Muncher |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 08:36 - Mar 16 by itfcpaul |
What do you think will happen with your experience in these things, vastly superior to mine? |
It's impossible to say really, the parties have clearly got a long way down the road, gamechanger have probably incurred a significant amount of fees in advisors costs, something in the £200k region wouldn't be unreasonable for this kind of deal that was well progressed.
From my point of view all I can really report is that the searches are still there, if a deal hit a stumbling block I would not expect them to be cancelled straight away. What will be more telling is if they do lapse without replacement on 8 April.
Suggestions the deal is off doesn't sit entirely consistently with what we have seen and has been reported so far, but we are rather in the dark. | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:59 - Mar 16 with 3843 views | textbackup |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:22 - Mar 16 by hype313 |
Call me cynical, but I do wonder if Evans has changed his thinking and now views us as having a far higher chance of promotion, therefore changing his valuation and goalposts than a few months ago... |
if we go up he'll need to find more money a year to fund us, something we've seen for 13 years that he'll do to a level, but never more than we really need to push on.
so if he's thinking he might make a few more quid on the sale if we are in the championhip i'd ask if theres anyone that would pay 40/45m for us in the championship?
and if he's currently got a bid of 30m is he really willing to hold out for 10/15m more considering
- we might not go up
- if we do the sale wont be instant so he'd still need to give PC 5-8m to improve the squad in the summer to be anywhere near ready to try and stay up in the championship. |  |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:02 - Mar 16 with 3817 views | portmanking |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:59 - Mar 16 by textbackup |
if we go up he'll need to find more money a year to fund us, something we've seen for 13 years that he'll do to a level, but never more than we really need to push on.
so if he's thinking he might make a few more quid on the sale if we are in the championhip i'd ask if theres anyone that would pay 40/45m for us in the championship?
and if he's currently got a bid of 30m is he really willing to hold out for 10/15m more considering
- we might not go up
- if we do the sale wont be instant so he'd still need to give PC 5-8m to improve the squad in the summer to be anywhere near ready to try and stay up in the championship. |
Exactly this. In my opinion, a surprise promotion against the odds this season just makes it all the less likely that a takeover would happen in the summer or next season. Our value would go up considerably and we'd be less of a distressed asset.
Evans would then need to stump up considerable funds to have us competitive in the league above again and we'll be in that enthusiasm-sapping vicious circle again. | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:09 - Mar 16 with 3785 views | textbackup |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:02 - Mar 16 by portmanking |
Exactly this. In my opinion, a surprise promotion against the odds this season just makes it all the less likely that a takeover would happen in the summer or next season. Our value would go up considerably and we'd be less of a distressed asset.
Evans would then need to stump up considerable funds to have us competitive in the league above again and we'll be in that enthusiasm-sapping vicious circle again. |
in typical Ipswich fashion this will be disjointed and messy.
in an ideal world, takeover happens in the next 2 months giving PC time to plan with new owners where we go and how things will be done.
in an Ipswich world, we'll win the playoffs, get 2/3 free transfers in that weren't PC's first choice, we finish 17th in championship, and PC gets offered a better job elsewhere. | |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:14 - Mar 16 with 3759 views | WeWereZombies |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:02 - Mar 16 by portmanking |
Exactly this. In my opinion, a surprise promotion against the odds this season just makes it all the less likely that a takeover would happen in the summer or next season. Our value would go up considerably and we'd be less of a distressed asset.
Evans would then need to stump up considerable funds to have us competitive in the league above again and we'll be in that enthusiasm-sapping vicious circle again. |
You seem to be arguing against yourself in that first paragraph (which is not a bad tactic, most of 'Origin of the Species' is Darwin trying to disprove evolution), i.e. 'makes it all the less likely that a takeover would happen' v 'we'd be less of a distressed asset.' Unless you are suggesting that we are only of interest to someone who can only afford tat... |  |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:18 - Mar 16 with 3731 views | ArnieM |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 10:51 - Mar 16 by Muncher |
It's impossible to say really, the parties have clearly got a long way down the road, gamechanger have probably incurred a significant amount of fees in advisors costs, something in the £200k region wouldn't be unreasonable for this kind of deal that was well progressed.
From my point of view all I can really report is that the searches are still there, if a deal hit a stumbling block I would not expect them to be cancelled straight away. What will be more telling is if they do lapse without replacement on 8 April.
Suggestions the deal is off doesn't sit entirely consistently with what we have seen and has been reported so far, but we are rather in the dark. |
I would tend agree with you o this ( even though I don't have your expertise). It wouldn't make sense to call the whole thing off because of some glitch. I doubt Evans would want the take over to fail either. Hopefully they can get back to some negotiations and get things sorted.
So just to confirm then, April's date is a the key one to identify how things are going, or not ? | |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:24 - Mar 16 with 3679 views | portmanking |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:14 - Mar 16 by WeWereZombies |
You seem to be arguing against yourself in that first paragraph (which is not a bad tactic, most of 'Origin of the Species' is Darwin trying to disprove evolution), i.e. 'makes it all the less likely that a takeover would happen' v 'we'd be less of a distressed asset.' Unless you are suggesting that we are only of interest to someone who can only afford tat... |
No, I'm saying most investors are looking at League One clubs more readily because of the smaller initial investment required. Matt Slater said that getting deals over the line for the likes of Derby in the Championship have proven to be significantly harder due to the finances involved.
Us gaining promotion takes us out of that 'low risk, high reward' category, as investors are increasingly recognising what a mess the second tier is. Far better to get investment now, get our infrastructure and house in order to tackle the Championship having shed a new skin and identity IMO. | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:30 - Mar 16 with 3637 views | Muncher |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 11:18 - Mar 16 by ArnieM |
I would tend agree with you o this ( even though I don't have your expertise). It wouldn't make sense to call the whole thing off because of some glitch. I doubt Evans would want the take over to fail either. Hopefully they can get back to some negotiations and get things sorted.
So just to confirm then, April's date is a the key one to identify how things are going, or not ? |
Yes, unless something else happens in the meantime. | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:19 - Mar 17 with 3114 views | Muncher |
No change today, they're still there. | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:20 - Mar 17 with 3102 views | J2BLUE |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:19 - Mar 17 by Muncher |
No change today, they're still there. |
Appreciate the updates but if it has "stalled' and they're £3 why would they remove them? |  |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:20 - Mar 17 with 3097 views | hype313 |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:19 - Mar 17 by Muncher |
No change today, they're still there. |
If talks have stalled, would they immediately be pulled or does it take a few days for them to disappear if someone has essentially cancelled them? | |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:21 - Mar 17 with 3081 views | portmanking |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:20 - Mar 17 by J2BLUE |
Appreciate the updates but if it has "stalled' and they're £3 why would they remove them? |
You do have a point. I can't help feeling that they'll just be allowed to lapse on that April 7 and then disappear from the Land Registry. | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:21 - Mar 17 with 3079 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:20 - Mar 17 by J2BLUE |
Appreciate the updates but if it has "stalled' and they're £3 why would they remove them? |
Because whilst they remain, Evans can't sell the club at all to anyone else.
At least I think thats what I read. | |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:22 - Mar 17 with 3071 views | J2BLUE |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:21 - Mar 17 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Because whilst they remain, Evans can't sell the club at all to anyone else.
At least I think thats what I read. |
They're going to expire long before any deal would be done with another party though. | |
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| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:22 - Mar 17 with 3065 views | portmanking |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:21 - Mar 17 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Because whilst they remain, Evans can't sell the club at all to anyone else.
At least I think thats what I read. |
That's right. Ergo there's no other currently interested parties busting a gut to buys us. | | | |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:23 - Mar 17 with 3052 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land on 09:22 - Mar 17 by J2BLUE |
They're going to expire long before any deal would be done with another party though. |
I'm no Solicitor. Just repeating what Muncher wrote. | |
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