Club Statement

15/03/13: Dunfermline Athletic Football Club notes the most recent statement by The Pars Community

Dunfermline Athletic Football Club notes the most recent statement by The Pars Community

DAFC has been corresponding and negotiating in good faith with The Pars Community (TPC) for a number of months, with the recent support of the Steering Group led by Jim Leishman and Bob Garmory.

The initial proposal by TPC involved CHL and Gavin Masterton's shareholding in the Club reducing to 10% in return for an investment of £500,000 of which £250,000 was to be underwritten by a group of named individuals and £250,000 was to be raised from supporters. In addition, the proposal required providers of loans to the club to write those loans down by 60%.

Following this initial proposal, a working group was constructed which secured a number of additional concessions from CHL & Mr Masterton, which would have seen CHL's shareholding in the Club reducing to zero, and writing off a greater proportion of debt than envisaged under the TPC proposal.

It was expected that Heads of Terms on that proposal would be signed today and that the TPC would commence due diligence today, which would have led to the financial transparency they had been so urgently seeking and to verify if the proposed offer was a viable solution.

However, despite repeated requests to demonstrate that the £250,000 of capital was available by the named supporters to deal with the HMRC issue, the TPC were unable or unwilling to demonstrate such availability. This led the club to request the TPC to deposit such funds in an escrow account to be released to the Club following completion of due diligence. At that point the TPC withdrew its offer and subsequently submitted a further proposal, but on significantly more onerous terms than their original one.

DAFC and its representatives sought a meeting with TPC this afternoon to seek assurances, but the TPC declined this request and have now withdrawn their proposal.

The Board of DAFC continues to explore all avenues to secure the future of our Club as quickly as possible, we will update supporters of progress as soon as possible whilst respecting the financially sensitive nature of the negotiations.