Training Ground Subject of Land Registry Purchase Searches By Takeover Consortium 3rd Mar 2021 00:45
Gamechanger 20 Ltd, the company set up by the US consortium currently in the process of taking over Town, has made priority Land Registry searches relating to the purchase of the Blues’ training ground, a further indicator that the £30 million deal is nearing completion. 54

The takeover by Gamechanger 20 Ltd - The training ground land by Muncher 2 Mar 2021 23:56
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-says-suffolk-solicitor

https://twitter.com/Prettys_Law/status/1368904355848552448

[Post edited 8 Mar 2021 13:34]

[Post edited 8 Mar 2021 14:21]