More things

Cullum only "sort of" spends ?20m. The reason it's only "sort of" is because in return he gets control over the club - and he therefore gets control over what happens to the ?20m. Obviously it's money oout of his bank account. But it then goes into a bank account of a company over which he has majority control.

And by having her shareholding diluted, Delia would have lost control over the value of her shares. Cullum might want to do something which she really disagreed with - for example, who should be appointed as a new manager. While she has control, the value of her shareholding is in her own hands. Once she loses control, it's in Cullum's hands.

Finally, her shareholding is pretty illiquid. Very difficult to trade it, very small market. Its big attraction is that it is a majority block: that's where its real value lies, not in its notional value as a share in a profitable (cough) business. Lose the "control" attraction, and you've really knocked spots off the value of your shares.

Posted By: Old Git, Jul 13, 12:59:43