http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/feb/04/leeds-united-buy-out-bidder-winding-up-petition
> sheesh The key member of a rejected bid to buy Leeds United <http://www.theguardian.com/football/leedsunited> from Gulf Finance House has issued a winding-up petition against the club. Andrew Flowers, owner of Gibraltar-based Enterprise Insurance, the club's shirt sponsor, was said by the Financial Times to have issued the petition on 29 January, the day after his long negotiations with GFH collapsed. The petition, said to be for an unpaid debt Flowers claims is due, has not yet been advertised in the official insolvency proceedings journal, the London Gazette. A statement on behalf of GFH appeared on Leeds' websiteon Tuesday night. It read: "The winding-up petition issued by Enterprise Insurance, a sponsor whose managing director, Andrew Flowers, claims to support the club, is misconceived and an abuse of legal process. It is being vigorously contested by the club's lawyers. "As there were no valid grounds to issue the petition, we can only assume that Mr Flowers is seeking to influence the deliberations of the club's owners and management in relation to the takeover negotiations. Under the ownership of GFH Capital Leeds United has always met its financial obligations and it will continue to do so." The move by Flowers demonstrates that he still intends to buy the club and is employing a range of tactics to win the battle against the Cagliari owner, Massimo Cellino, with whom GFH has reached an agreement in principle to sell a 75% stake in the club. GFH will now be forced to deal legally with the winding-up petition, and if other people or businesses are owed money, they are likely to come forward in the hope that they will be paid quickly. Flowers is expected to hold a press conference on Wednesday in London to set out further details of his continued bid, now understood to be in alliance with other, previously rival, consortium members. David Haigh, the GFH executive and Leeds managing director, who was working with Flowers, said that it had failed because his consortium could not ultimately come up with the money. Flowers, however, has said that he made a lower bid following his due diligence and GFH were in breach of their contractual covenants to talk subsequently to Cellino. Enterprise Insurance loaned Leeds £1.7m in 2012 at 7% interest and Haigh is also understood to have put about £2m into the club's running costs in recent months. GFH argues that Flowers' and Haigh's consortium did not produce the money to pay for the sale and therefore they were entitled to negotiate with Cellino. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
