Plymouth Argyle FC is to be bought out of administration for £1 in a deal that will see the club’s property assets stripped away.
Former Leeds United chief executive Peter Risdale, who has been serving as a consultant at Argyle since December, will pay £1 to take over the club.
The deal will permit the League Two club to leave administration, which it filed for four months ago.
However, the deal has effectively stripped the club of all of its property assets, including its stadium Home Park and a portion of land which has potential for development. These assets will now be held by Kevin Heaney, a Cornwall-based property developer.
It is common practice in football to hold the football and property businesses in separate vehicles so clubs can exploit their fixed assets as security for borrowing from lenders, who are concerned about the risks involved in making such loans.
However, there will be an important and difficult difference in Argyle’s case: the two entities have separate shareholders.
This means the relationship is effectively a tenancy agreement between Ridsdale’s Argyle as tenant and Heaney’s Bishop International as landlord.
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
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