Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri is approaching what could prove to be an important date in the financial future of the club, The Star understands.
Towards the end of what continues to be a perilous summer for the Owls, a loan payment hanging over the leasehold and freehold of Hillsborough Stadium – effectively a mortgage in layman’s terms – owed by Sheffield Wednesday is due on September 30 and now stands at just over £7.3m, with the charge appearing to have previously been ‘rolled-up’ with interest and annually re-issued from a sum of just over £6.4m in September 2020.
This is the fifth charge to have been rolled over by New Avenue Projects, a company with no other publicly-known active interests. It is widely believed New Avenue Projects are essentially a broker on the deal and that they are not the ultimate lender, whose identity is not known.
The Star has cause to believe that – as things stand – there is a more than reasonable chance the charge will not simply be rolled over this year as has been routine to date – and that Wednesday may already have been asked to repay a significant chunk of the total sum owed on September 30 as the creditors seek to reduce their risk level and retrieve part of the loan’s value. It’s important to stress that any demand could be subject to review at any stage, it is understood, or negotiated between the parties.
Should any immediate financial obligation lodged by New Avenue Projects be satisfied on time, no further action would be necessary for 12 months, assuming the charge is dealt with on an annual rolling basis as before. It is believed Chansiri will have a grace period in which to settle the debt beyond September 30 should it be required. Last month the club were able to satisfy their monthly salary obligations and it’s believed that more recent HMRC commitments have been met.
In the event Chansiri is not able to repay any figure officially called in, it’s understood that while a host of options would be available, some of the more stringent enforcement options New Avenue Projects could enact would include applying to put the club into administration or appointing a receiver over Hillsborough, which would have the authority to claim rent from the club or ultimately put the stadium up for sale.
Should both of those options be taken at the same time, a suggestion is that an insolvency practitioner could in theory be appointed to manage the sale of both club and stadium as one. New Avenue Projects’ appetite for any enforcement measures is not yet known.
New Avenue Projects Limited was incorporated in 2004 but appears to have no other active business interests. It is owned and run by Nigel Weiss, a former city finance lawyer of whom not a great deal is publicly known beyond previous financial dealings with Watford FC.
The fixed charge held by New Avenue Projects against Hillsborough first came about in the months after the controversial £60m sale of the stadium to a separate Chansiri-owned company, Sheffield 3, which was incorporated in June the previous year. The sale was designed to side-step the breaking of spending rules but landed Wednesday a 12-point deduction ahead of the 2020/21 season, a sanction that was later halved to six points on appeal but effectively cost the club their Championship status when they were relegated four points short of safety.
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