BDO administrators called to Heart of Midlothian FC
Secured creditor request for BDO administrators sees firm take appointment over board’s request for KPMG practitioners
Secured creditor request for BDO administrators sees firm take appointment over board’s request for KPMG practitioners
BDO ADMINISTRATORS have been called to Scottish football club Heart of Midlothian FC.
Bryan Jackson, Trevor Birch (pictured) and James Stephen, partners at BDO, were appointed joint administrators of the Scottish side yesterday.
The board of Hearts had requested KPMG administrators take the appointment. However, the Court of Session in Edinburgh appointed BDO administrators, following requests from the largest creditor’s administrator AB Ukio Bankas.
AB is a secured creditor and is a Lithuanian commercial bank. On 7 June the Court of Appeal of Lithuania allowed bankruptcy proceedings against the bank to commence, with Gintaras Adomonis from Valnetas UAB nominated as the bankruptcy administrator, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Jackson said: “We will now undertake an urgent examination of the company’s records prior to making any further announcements.
“We are acutely aware of the need for speed in this process given the uncertainty of the last few weeks and the proximity of the season’s start. We will be talking to all the parties that have shown interest in the club in order to find a resolution as quickly as possible.”
Football clubs that enter administration are docked nine points for every season they are in the insolvency process. The season in Scotland is due to start on 3 August.
Jackson and Birch, both part of PKF prior to its merger with BDO, were recently the administrators for Portsmouth FC. That football club entered administration for the second time in two years in February 2012 – the administrators, including Ian Gould, announced its sale in April.
The BBC reports that Hearts owes Lithuanian investment company UBIG £10m, AB Ukio Bankas £15m and has a number of outstanding tax liabilities.