Hearts face the prospect of liquidation unless someone outstrips present offers for the club by millions, administrator Bryan Jackson has warned. Jackson’s counterpart looking after the affairs of the club’s owners, Ukio Bankas, has said none of the bids received for Hearts are acceptable. And the bank’s administrator has warned that liquidation is a possibility.
Hearts face the prospect of liquidation unless someone outstrips present offers for the club by millions, administrator Bryan Jackson has warned. Jackson’s counterpart looking after the affairs of the club’s owners, Ukio Bankas, has said none of the bids received for Hearts are acceptable. And the bank’s administrator has warned that liquidation is a possibility.
Jackson believes the bank administrator would prefer a deal to be done but has urged bidders to offer more money. The club’s administrator, BDO, has been working with three interested parties and initial indications were that the difference required to allow a deal to progress was less than £1m.
The administrator of Ukio Bankas has told BDO to continue negotiations with fans’ group the Foundation of Hearts, as well as Five Stars Football Ltd, which lists controversial former Livingston owner Angelo Massone among its creditors. A third offer placed by HMFC Ltd has been rejected outright.
In a statement issued on the Foundation of Hearts website Ian Murray MP, independent chair of the Foundation of Hearts, said: ‘Our bid team, working on behalf of the Foundation of Hearts, continues to negotiate on the points of the bid submitted on our behalf to BDO. Meetings are scheduled for this week, and have been since our revised bid and proof of funding was submitted last Wednesday, as requested. It’s very much business as usual.’
‘We remain hopeful that we can demonstrate to the club’s creditors that our proposal provides the strongest return and carries the lowest risk, in short by far the best solution. This announcement from Lithuania does again, however, demonstrate the need for supporters to set up direct debits via foundationofhearts.org, if they can do so.’