According to an interview with Les Reid, now freelancing for the Coventry Observer, SISU boss Joy Seppala is finalising a bid for the shares in Arena Coventry Limited that are currently owned by the Higgs Charity who bought them off City's board back in 2004/2005.
“It’s a pretty simple list we’ve requested," Seppala told Reid. "We’ve done due diligence (on ACL) in the past when we made our first offer, so it’s the minimal amount of new information we need. It’s a reasonable request. I don’t know how anyone could make a bid without that information.
“Our preference would have been for 100 per cent. How does a joint venture between two unknowns operate? We would want to be sure that any insolvency of Wasps wouldn’t trigger a minimum 10-point deduction for Coventry City Football Club. I don’t want financial risk exposure to Wasps.
“Then there’s the problem of stadium revenues needed to support the club and team. That partly goes back to the Compass agreement (between ACL and catering company Compass). Has it been varied? Has it changed with Wasps? I think Wasps would have done due diligence on that in terms of the potential cash flow.
“It’s a complex situation having 50/50 but it’s not to say we can’t work it out. We would like to secure our position for as long as it takes to build a new stadium. We don’t want to jeopardise the club's financial position, when we’ve worked so hard to get to a position where it’s cash flow positive for the first time in many years.
“It provides us potentially with greater financial security over that period of four years or, if construction of new stadium were to overrun it goes beyond to five or six years, it protects us in that situation.
“I think they (Wasps) need us there, but I want to ensure we have the time to build what it is we want to build in the best interests of the club in the medium to long term.”
“I think the fans want us to have at least 50 per cent or own 100pc of the stadium company at this stage. It is a tragedy that it’s all come to this."
Full Story: Joy Seppala speaks over Coventry City Ricoh bid against Wasps | Coventry Observer