NMC to complete Bullets takeover in 60 days

…. legal battle likely

…Board of Trustees to be dissolved, team bus arriving

Nyasa Big Bullets executive committee will officially hand over ownership of the club to sponsors Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC) in the next 60 days.

The completion of the takeover is subject to the dissolution of the Board of Trustees as per recommendations of delegates at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) which took place on Saturday at Crown Hotel in Lilongwe.

According to information made available to Malawi24, the EGM was attended by the team’s main executive committee and supporters committee with members from the Board of Trustees being absent – reports suggest that they are not happy with the procedures being taken by the Noel Lipipa led executive committee in the whole process.

However, the meeting went ahead and the delegates agreed to give NMC a 70 percent stake in the team, with the remaining 30 percent being given to the general public.

According to Lipipa, the Board of Trustees agreed to be dissolved in order to allow smooth transition.

“After the EGM resolutions, the Board of Trustees wrote a letter accepting to dissolve the trusteeship to allow smooth transition in the commercialization process. The delegates could have dissolved the Board of Trustees at the EGM but we needed to present a report on our proposal and what Nyasa has responded and the response from Nyasa came on 2^nd August.

“We have to deregister the trusteeship and register a new company where few trustees will be directors so they can monitor whether NMC is implementing to what we agreed before taking over full ownership of the club,” he explained.

The Bullets chairman then revealed that the whole process will be completed within the said 60 days after Saturday’s EGM in Lilongwe.

“The whole process will be completed within the said 60 days. However, the handing over ceremony will wait for the arrival of the team bus which is the exact bus that heavyweights Bayern Munich of Germany uses,” he continued.

He then downplayed the absence of the Board of Trustees during the EGM saying they gave the delegates a go ahead to dissolve their committee.

“The trustees already complied with the EGM resolutions by writing and accepting to dissolve their committee so their absence had nothing to do with what the delegates discussed at the EGM,” he said.

Asked as to why NMC has been given 70 percent stake in the team, Lipipa said: “They are willing to settle all the debts as such, they assume full responsibilities of the club. They will need to pump in cash for the next five years which is more than K4 billion and for them to start recovering what they have invested in the team , they will need more than five years which is not enough to recover much hence the agreement to have them at least offload 30 percent minimum.

“They are also at liberty to offload more should they want to raise capital or get their cash back. You should be very much aware that most investors are not interested to invest in Bullets because they feel the club has no reputation.”

He then explained that the Board of Trustees will be dissolved by anyone within the law since the letter which was written by the said committee gives mandate to do so.

But commenting on the development, one of the Board of Trustees who opted for anonymity said it is only the Annual General Meeting (AGM) which has the mandate to dissolve the Board of Trustees and not the EGM.

“Delegates at any EGM cannot make resolutions to dissolve the Board of Trustees and as per Bullets’ constitution, it’s only the AGM that can do that. We are very saddened with the way things are being done by the executive committee and that’s why we decided not to attend the EGM because others would have been calling for our heads for flouting procedures.

“Legal battle will resurface because the decision to give NMC the team was supposed to be done at the AGM after consultations between Trustees, executive committee and supporters committee. We are not against this decision but proper procedures must be followed,” he said.

A document which Malawi24 has in possession indicates that once the takeover of ownership is completed, NMC will pay debts amounting to K115 million within 6 months, build a stadium, build a village for the club as well as inherit the club from the current owners.

NMC has also promised the club that a new state of the art bus will be purchased within the next 6 months upon the completion of the process.

It has also been reported that NMC will list Bullets Football Club on Malawi Stock Exchange within the next five years and at least 30 percent of the shares will be offered to any interested supporter, investor or general public.

NMC has also promised that supporters will be appointed directors to be part of the club even after transfer of ownership which will officially be approved by the Executive Committee after the 60 days.

Meanwhile, some section of supporters are planning to stop the takeover process saying they are not happy with the percentage given to NMC.

Malawi24 understands supporters want NMC to be given less than 50 percent stake in the team.