[quotes]The article does state it was a sale and leaseback, so they sold the freehold title to the land and leased it back on a term of x number of years. A not uncommon way or raising capital.[/quote]
There is a confusion between completely unrelated transactions. These things should be set right for posterity. These days there are far sources of information but most are dubious.
1. By 2002, the Aero development and losses had the company on the ropes. The legendary and substantial MMC reserves/non-business assets had been dissipated. Accordingly, banks refused to lend as they were worried about the company asset value remaining. Peter Morgan owned the land and buildings personally, as his father had before him. The MMC and his father, HFS, and the Company had never had a bank loan. Peter finally agreed to put up his property titles as collateral. Charles Morgan negotiated a small loan in January 2003 which went to pay operating debts. At Peter's passing later that year, the family shareholders elected Alan Garnett as Chairman.
Garnett was a non-family, non-staff director, who had been brought onto the Board by Peter in 1999.
2. By the end of 2005, the Company was in dire straits again but this time for larger sums. Garnett had Peter's widow, PM's second wife, agree to sell the land & building to the Company. Garnett instantly found a real estate investor to buy all of these assets over time and instantly leaseback the land and building, in early 2006, exactly as suggested above. That funded the company but saddled it with an expensive lease it had never paid before. The shareholders drew money personally from the sale and the company was again funded. In April/May of 2006, the shareholders agreed that Charles Morgan would stay on and be part of a four man executive committee (Charles Morgan, Matthew Parkin, Tim Whitworth and Steve Morris) to run the company. Garnett simultaneously resigned.
Charles Morgan resigned as a director in 2013. Tim Whitworth resigned in 2016. Matthew had resigned much earlier and Steve Morris, who started in the Tin Shop and became production director and finally CEO.[i] A few months before left, he was made board Chairman.
3. The non-trad development continued and after the property sale payments ended the company was shaky once more. However, a large development grant,
2 million was obtained from the British government. By then the book losses had reached a sum much higher than company's paper value. A new professional finance man was amicably hired away from the Company's auditors. A reorganization was begun. The original MMC and many others cos. were made defunct and a new holding company, Morgan Technologies, purchased the assets (real and intellectual rights) of the old company. That purchase price established a positive equity for the new company. In January 2016, the Company received another grant, this time for
6 million grant from the British government. The remaining directors had the Company buy back the land & building sold in 2006.
4. In 2019, all the company's shares were purchased by a holding company of InvestIndustrial. The holding company name is Sports Cars (England) Acquisitions Limited. Many here will remember their long control of Aston Martin.[/i] The sales amount paid was supposedly 6 million but I never bothered confirming with a second source. InvestIndustrial is another company associated with The Carlyle Group, the world's
largest private investment company..with 1000s (thousands) of associate companies around the globe. The Carlyle head office is in Washington, DC, but they have many offices. The name of Morgan Technologies was changed back to the Morgan Motor Company in late 2020. The old company of the same name and others were closed or made dormant. Its up on Company House as well.
The latest (2021 as 2022 is pending) news is that MMC still has its HSBC loans AND a 10 million credit facility put up by its new owners. This makes the financing area moot. The current owners can do whatever they want. It is seemingly odd that they bought the MMC. But the last Chairman under the Morgan Family ownership is/was a noted turnaround expert. He could have had the connections, even at this level. In my working days, I was in the same field.
All sources for this are public. I will not post the private stuff.
It is unneeded before the 5th pint.
L.
