At QPR1st we’ve been doing a fair amount of digging to try and find out who our mystery backer is. We have so far uncovered a trail leading to Switzerland, which we intend to carry on following.
We already have Companies House documents that list ABC Corp. Ltd as the holder of the mortgage charge. We investigated this and found a shell company with offices above a Brazilian bookshop in Queensway. However, when questioned, the club’s management told us that we, or rather Companies House, had the wrong ABC. We were also told that a correction has been submitted to Companies House, which sets the mortgage holder as a Swiss trust fund, also known as ABC, although this has not yet worked its way through to the Companies House website.
Club management has also told us that the mystery lender is extremely well-heeled (a figure of £0.5bn has been mentioned to us) and a fan. Nevertheless, we’d still like to get to his/her/its identity, just to make sure that we’re satisfied that the club is in safer hands than it has been. We haven’t yet tried to find the Swiss trust, because we’re waiting to see what Companies House says.
On the ownership of the club at the moment, getting information has proved difficult, although to be charitable there is still a good deal of horse-trading going on behind the scenes. We know that Chris Wright is ceding 28% of his shares and that Nick Blackburn has been given 5%, although we’re not clear if that’s additional to or part of the 28%. We do not know what percentage Chris Wright still holds, although we have been told that his position is now one that is without power.