Stadia arms put in receivership

TWO subsidiaries of Stadia Investment Group were put into receivership yesterday in a move linked to attempts by its founding director, the former Bank of Scotland treasurer Gavin Masterton, to sell his controlling stake in the football investment firm.

Stadia Properties - which owns Dunfermline Athletic’s East End Park stadium - and Stadia Management are thought to have had combined debts of at least 600,000, spread across a number of projects in the UK.

Although yesterday’s move was initiated by a petition to put the firms into voluntary liquidation lodged at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last Wednesday by trade creditors, Masterton told The Scotsman that it was also tied to his efforts to put a valuation on the business before selling it to an unnamed UK investor.

While both Stadia subsidiaries have close links to Dunfermline, where Masterton is a director, and Livingston FC, which will go into administration today, Masterton also insisted that Stadia had no direct involvement in financial difficulties at either club.

He said: "The creditors raised an action, which we obviously disputed to a degree in terms of the quantum of the claims, and it has gone into receivership. But part of the discussions I am having relate to the scale of the assets and liabilities which will be assumed by the new owner."

After the liquidation petition was lodged last week, higher-ranking creditors, including Bank of Scotland, moved instead to put the two firms in receivership. This gives greater protection to larger creditors but is likely to leave the signatories to the petition with little chance of seeing their money.

Masterton dismissed as "absolute nonsense" suggestions from some of the nine trade creditors that he was protecting his own financial interests by putting the two firms into receivership.

He also stressed that the two receiverships have no bearing on Dunfermline’s entitlement to play at East End Park, which is ensured through a 125-year lease. The stadium has a book value on Stadia Properties’ last filed accounts of 6.6 million and is the company’s one significant asset. Stadia Management, a company used to set up joint ventures, has no assets.

Both Stadia subsidiaries were involved in the construction of Livingston’s Almondvale stadium and the renovation last year of East End Park. Contractors claim they have not been paid for this and other Stadia projects, such as a development at Wester Hailes, Edinburgh.