Wasps: Rugby club's debts totalled £95m when they went into administration - report
- Published
Wasps have not played at the CBS Arena since 9 October, the 40-36 home loss to Northampton
Wasps had debts totalling £95m when the club went into administration, reports by administrators FRP have revealed.
They show that the combined debts of the rugby club's parent company Wasps Holdings and their three Coventry Building Society Arena companies have cost taxpayers millions of pounds.
Dozens of local firms were also owed money, including Arena tenants Coventry City who were owed about £465,000.
Wasps and their stadium businesses owed more than £21m to public bodies.
Wasps Holdings entered administration on 18 October, resulting in their relegation from the Premiership.
Meanwhile, Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), Arena Coventry (2006) Ltd and IEC Experience Ltd were first threatened with the likelihood of administration on 2 November.
Former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley's Frasers Group, the preferred bidder, then had a £17m bid accepted and took charge when the businesses went into administration on 17 November, despite a late £25m offer from stadium tenants Coventry's proposed new majority shareholder Doug King.
Frasers Group have since served the Sky Blues with an eviction notice, saying they have no continuing right to use the ground unless a new licence is agreed.
Who is owed the most money?
The administrators' reports have highlighted the full extent of the CBS Arena's and Wasps' debts.
Taxpayers took the biggest hit as a result of the £14.1m Covid Sport Survival Package (SSP) loan from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), administered by Sport England.
A further £7m owed to His Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has not been repaid - and there were also losses for local taxpayers.
Coventry City Council was owed more than £270,000, with the council telling the BBC the bulk of it (£228,152) was as a result of unpaid business rates.
Warwickshire County Council was owed £600 and Stratford District Council £2,868, while West Midlands Police lost £20,570 and West Midlands Ambulance Service took a loss of £1,755.
The reports also show former Wasps owner Derek Richardson had loans of about £16.5m in the various Wasps companies when they went bust.
It is a bigger blow to the public purse than when Worcester Warriors collapsed in October, owing the government £16.1m from their SSP loan (the biggest of the combined £124m package of loans given to all 13 Premiership clubs), as well as £2.1m in unpaid taxes to HMRC.
The other big losers were Wasps bondholders, who were owed £35.2m.
They did receive around £7.4m back, but it still results in total losses of £27.8m.
Who is owed what locally?
It was not just taxpayers affected by the collapse of Wasps as more than 40 local firms lost money.
Signage company Moseley Signs - who recently removed Wasps' logo from the Arena - were owed more than £92,000.
Coventry City Council took another hit as a result of Tom White Waste, which is owned by the local authority, suffering a loss of £11,336.
Surrey-based Compass, which previously supplied catering and events support to the stadium, lost £7.6m, while Delaware North, who had taken over from Compass were owed £4.5m.
Administrators FRP, Sport England, former Wasps owner Richardson, Coventry City Council, Premiership Rugby, Moseley Signs and DCMS have all been approached for comment.