The managers of Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena stadium, who claim the club owes more than £1.3m in unpaid rent, have abandoned a bid to put it into administration, after administrators were appointed in respect of a property subsidiary last week.
Proudman J formally dismissed the application brought by Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), which manages the Ricoh Arena on behalf of joint owners the Alan Edward Higgs Charity and Coventry City Council, on request from ACL’s counsel, Hilary Stonefrost.
ACL had sought to place leaseholder Coventry City Football Club Ltd into administration until parent company Coventry City Football Club (Holdings) Ltd announced last week that the subsidiary had already gone into administration. Coventry City Football Club (Holdings) Ltd had described Coventry City Football Club Ltd as a non-operating “property subsidiary”.
Adam Goodison, representing the appointed administrators, told the judge that Coventry City Football Club Ltd has deficits to creditors “in the region of £60m”.
He added: “It is a fairly catastrophic insolvency.”
However, in the statement released last week, Coventry City Football Club (Holdings) Ltd said it would meet creditor commitments and that the “football club itself” was not under threat.
In the Matter of: Coventry City Football Club Ltd Chancery (Proudman J) 26 March 2013
Hilary Stonefrost for the claimant (Arena Coventry Limited)
Adam Goodison for the administrators of Coventry City Football Club Ltd.
