Inverness Caley Thistle on brink of exiting administration after BDO name Alan Savage as preferred bidder 24 hours ahead of Orion owner’s deadline
Inverness Caledonian Thistle are on the brink of exiting administration after BDO named Alan Savage as their preferred bidder.
At a press conference at the Caledonian Stadium this afternoon, the joint-administrators confirmed that a deal had been struck that would see Alan Savage take control, subject to a positive vote on a company voluntary arrangement.
Savage had previously laid out four conditions that would need to be met for his offer to stand: 100 per cent of the shares must be transferred to FC Inverness; all long-term loans are written off; all the trade creditors sitting in administration accept that their debts are settled; and the company PropCo gives a written undertaking to sell the peripheral lease (excluding the triangle) to Inverness Caledonian Thistle for the price agreed at a meeting of shareholders which took place on Wednesday, March 19 with an assurance that the purchase can be completed by Friday, April 18.
James Stephen, representing BDO, announced that agreements had been reached regarding loans and the land, with neither party anticipating that shareholders will be an issue.
In fact, while an exact timeline was not revealed, Stephen was confident that the Caley Jags could officially exit administration “well before the end of the season”, with Savage revealing that the club will remain full time next season.
Stephen said: "I am delighted to say, as of this morning, we have resolved the issues around the longer-term creditors' loans and the property which is adjacent to the stadium and I am most delighted to say we have appointed Alan Savage as preferred bidder for the club.
"We look forward to working with Alan and his team in setting a timetable for a company voluntary arrangement which will aloow the club to exit administration which we are seeking to achieve well before the end of the season. It will allow the club to plan going forward for next season.
"I just want to place on record my thanks to Alan for all the support he has given the club. One of the key factors in going forward with the bid is that the person would be suitable for the footballing authorities in Scotland.
"I don't think we could have a better example given what Alan has done for the club over the last few months, so my appreciation is very for much Alan.
"I also want to place on record my thanks to all the team and the staff at the club who have worked tirelessly through this difficult situation.
"It is nice that we have got to this point, We look forward to driving the process forward, having the creditors' meeting and getting that approved and seeing the club exit administration.
"The next stage is for us to hold a meeting of creditors, and we need to set a time for that. That will be done well before the end of the season.”
Savage himself commented: “I am just happy the conditions have been met for my offer. I can now go on and run the football club and make sure it can do as well as it possibly can.
"It is a relief for everyone that we're not going into liquidation.
"We are going to keep a full-time squad for next season. The hard work starts for Charlie Christie and Scott Kellacher to put a squad together so we can get out of League One next year.
"We have looked after the players and paid for operations this year for maybe three or four of them. It demonstrates the confidence in the club we could get through it.
"We hope the loyalty we showed to the players is repaid. We hope they sign new contracts and come forward in the journey with us to become a football club again.
“It would have been a real shame and embarrassment to Inverness if the club had got liquidated.
“There’s a lot of stakeholders. HIE’s mantra and driver is to attract businesses to the Highlands of Scotland, so to see a football club fail, right in the middle of it, I don’t think would have looked good.
“The club is an important part of the community and I couldn’t sit back and let it fail.”