Business
Further re Newbury Racecourse
Further re Newbury Racecourse.
About this update from Coats Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Guinness Peat Group PLC\n12 March 2008\n\n Guinness Peat Group plc\n\n\n\n\n\nThe following is the text of a letter sent yesterday to shareholders of Newbury\nRacecourse Plc (\"Newbury\") in respect of resolutions to be put to an\nExtraordinary General Meeting of Newbury to be held on 19 March 2008 pursuant to\na requisition by Guinness Peat Group plc.\n\n\n\n\"To shareholders of Newbury Racecourse Plc\n\n\n\n\n11 March 2008\n\n\n\nDear Fellow Shareholder,\n\n\n\n \"Newbury is at the crossroads\"\n\n\n\nAt an Extraordinary General Meeting of Newbury Racecourse PLC (\"Newbury\" or \"the\nCompany\") to be held on Wednesday 19 March, Shareholders will vote on the\nNewbury Board's proposed property development joint venture (\"the DWH Proposal\")\nwith David Wilson Homes Ltd (\"DWH\") and GPG's proposal to reconfigure the\nNewbury Board so that it contains a suitable level of proprietorial involvement.\nThese matters are crucial to the long term future of racing at Newbury and the\nvalue of your investment.\n\nGPG believes the DWH Proposal would prove disastrous for Shareholder value and\nthat, if implemented, Newbury's share price could fall below £8.00 per Share:-\n\n• DWH would gain day-to-day control of more than half of Newbury's assets\nand in return Newbury would merely receive, over nine and a half years starting\nas late as 2014, contingent payments, the amounts of which are highly uncertain.\n\n• Newbury, with its paucity of property experience, would be exposed for\nup to 15 years to the vagaries of the housing market - which the February RICS\nsurvey reported fell for the seventh consecutive month and at a near-record\nrate.\n\n• The Newbury Board has, in consequence, been unable to commit to net\nreturns, in today's money, of at least £7 per Share, preferring instead to sway\nShareholders with non-committal illustrations of \"hope value\".\n\n\n\nWe strongly urge Shareholders who share GPG's view that the DWH Proposal would\nbe damaging to Shareholder value and is not in the best interests of the Company\nto vote for Resolution 5.\n\n\n\nGPG believes that the current Newbury Board has lost sight of its mandate as\ncustodian of the Shareholders' interests in the Company\n\n• The \"Independent Directors\" chose not to follow best practice Corporate\nGovernance and, despite repeated requests in late 2007, refu...