It's not 18m of debt; it's a deal that would cost the buyers £18m, including an £8m payoff to the Wills family. No wonder the talks have stalled.
How the fuck does a company with a turnover of less than £4m manage to accumulate a debt to HMRC of £1.8m? They can't have paid tax VAT NI PAYE or anything for years!
And on what planet does Diamandis think he and the Wills family are going to get £11m (£3m to holding co for shares plus 5 year pay off of £8m to Wills)? For a company that it's own directors admit is insolvent? That they have wrecked? Jesus wept!
If that's the deal they're after, quite apart from being completely insane, they are not going to find anyone to pay that price. Leaving us staring down a deep black hole of extinction.
I'm sorry, not normally given to the doom and gloom view of things, but this is seriously bad.
I know the horse has long bolted from the stable, but I'm trying to get my head around all the figures quoted here.
So SSW/Diamandis are asking BEST Holdings to pay 18M for a 75% stake in STFC, of which 11M is effectively a 'golden handshake' to the pair of them for the fine financial mismanagement they have overseen during their reign? Basically, the return of all the capital SSW has invested, and then some?
If I were BEST Holdings, I'd tell them to fuck right off immediately.
Good god, they really do take the fucking piss.