Amid the Duchatelet lead carnage at the Valley, when there is no good news anywhere, let's all hope that the delay in completion of a takeover and the ongoing encouragement towards other bidders, is because no-one is willing to pay more than what the club is worth. It offers us all the hope that when Duchatelet finally sells, he will take a massive double-digit million pound loss back to Belgium. I am thinking £20-30m so the asset stripping of the likes of Holmes and Konsa will be chicken-feed by comparison.
Pray for the last laugh.
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My main concern is that he tries to keep some part off the valley or sparrows lane.
I just want him out of our club 100%.
The sooner the better.
He only paid £18million for a Championship club and he’s left us marooned in League 1 with a demoralised and much reduced supporter base. Hardly a case of capital appreciation.
As @blackpool72 says, what is absolutely critical is that he does not retain any interest in the Valley or Sparrows Lane.
The shares he owns in his main electronics business, Melexis, have performed massively over the last few years. Propelling him from mere multimillionaire to billionaire status. (In euros). The price per share has increased from high €20s three years ago to €89 today.
He owns in excess of half the company through a holding company Xtrion. Xtrion will be pulling in approx €2 per share per year by way of dividend from Melexis. By my reckoning that's circa €40mn per annum. The value of Melexis shares held by Xtrion is €1.9bn. Let's be cautious and assume RD (or his interests) is beneficial owner of half of Xtrion. His dividends alone more than pay for any loses he makes at Charlton. He has other business interests too.
However attractive the concept of him taking a big financial hit might seem, the reality is very different. By the time he's organised a loss to set against tax, Charlton will have cost him no more than a small box of Godiva chocolates.
If Charlton Athletic is in a better place, with better owners and better prospects how much he's gained or lost is a minor issue for me.
We do know he wants to sell and with KM gone he has no reason to stick around. He will look to minimise his losses.
As I said on another thread, I think he will sell whatever players he can in this transfer window and then sell the club to the best remaining offer in early Feb.
It's a gamble but that's a game he can afford to play. With 4 interested parties he probably feels he has some leeway in terms of player sales.
I have no evidence to back up what he is worth but I am sure he has a good accountant on board and by the time they offset any losses at Charlton against his other profits he will hardly notice.
I'll only need a 6x3 shed
It's now all about how much more pain he can inflict on us prior to accepting his financial loses (which he will of course recoup elsewhere).
His warped, egotistical and narcissistic personality is one that will ensure that he does whatever it takes to have the last laugh.
But.
If he still owns sparrows lane he still owns a part of Charlton and I want the cnut completely gone.