A small group of Coventry City fans were shown on Central Television last night demonstrating outside the London offices of hedge fund Sisu who control the club through one of their companies. They had some very pertinent questions to ask, but unfortunately they are unlikely to get any answers, particularly from the head of Sisu whom they would like to meet.
A small group of Coventry City fans were shown on Central Television last night demonstrating outside the London offices of hedge fund Sisu who control the club through one of their companies. They had some very pertinent questions to ask, but unfortunately they are unlikely to get any answers, particularly from the head of Sisu whom they would like to meet.
Presumably Sisu thought they could make some money out of Coventry City through capital appreciation by selling the club once it had returned to the Premier League. The club, of course, did not own its own stadium, but Sisu were aware of that when they bought the club. Perhaps they also thought they could acquire the Ricoh at a reduced price.
Hedge funds and similar entities take risks and some of them go wrong. But given that there have been credible purchasers interested, why not cut your losses and get out? I can’t see the club being viable at Northampton, even if the games are exciting. The hope of a new stadium in Coventry seems a distant one and will require more expenditure. Incidentally, the offices don’t look that up market from the outside.
There’s a curious obduracy here which has nothing to do with the way in which rational economic actors are supposed to behave, although I suppose that behavioural economics tells us that we need to know some psychology as well.