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Brandon Update


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1 hour ago, racers and royals said:

Where have you been for the last 6 years ??  Brandon Estates a Jersey based company own it and have hardly been out of the news in that period.

That’s what I mean is Mr Sandu behind Branden Estate Co Or has he sold out and moved on?

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44 minutes ago, Speedtiger said:

That’s what I mean is Mr Sandu behind Branden Estate Co Or has he sold out and moved on?

There is an article dated 2nd May, 2018, which does suggest Avtar Sandhu sold the land to Brandon Estates. I don't think he is still involved. Although I mentioned the Ochiltrees in an earlier post, looking at the background of the stadium's ownership, I think the family were promoters only, not owners. I'm sure I will be corrected if that's wrong. 

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10 hours ago, Ray Stadia said:

There is an article dated 2nd May, 2018, which does suggest Avtar Sandhu sold the land to Brandon Estates. I don't think he is still involved. Although I mentioned the Ochiltrees in an earlier post, looking at the background of the stadium's ownership, I think the family were promoters only, not owners. I'm sure I will be corrected if that's wrong. 

I could be wrong but i thought Brandon was an Ochiltree family business trading as Midland Sports Stadiums ltd. They also owned Blackbird Road Leicester.

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29 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

I could be wrong but i thought Brandon was an Ochiltree family business trading as Midland Sports Stadiums ltd. They also owned Blackbird Road Leicester.

I think you are right, it looks like I have mis-interpreted an article. I found the following:

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/00320157/MIDLAND-SPORTS-STADIUMS-LIMITED/companies-house-data#google_vignette

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33 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

I could be wrong but i thought Brandon was an Ochiltree family business trading as Midland Sports Stadiums ltd. They also owned Blackbird Road Leicester.

You're correct.  The Ochiltree family (Midland Sports Stadiums Ltd) owned Brandon and Blackbird Road.  They sold Leicester to Barratts for housing in 1984.

They sold Coventry Stadium to Avtar Sandhu (Coventry Stadium Ltd/ Coventry Greyhounds Club Ltd / Coventry Racing Club Ltd) in 2002 

Around 2013 there were rumours that Coventry City FC were buying the stadium, but also HMRC put a block on Sandhu selling the stadium as they claimed Sandhu bought it with the help of a criminal business partner who had been convicted of money laundering and organised crime.

Sandhu eventually sold the stadium in 2016 to a Jersey company Brandon Estates Ltd.   (I have no idea who is behind Brandon Estates Ltd - someone must know)

Mick Horton was trying to lease the stadium for Speedway from them to continue in 2017.  I think Sandhu tried to lease back the running of Greyhounds too.  This fell through and Sandhu apparently broke into the stadium and allegedly stole fixtures and fittings.  Brandon Estates Ltd contacted the police and claimed no one could now run Speedway or Greyhounds at their stadium as it was an active crime scene.

That's how I remember it.

 

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9 hours ago, RoundTheBoards said:

You're correct.  The Ochiltree family (Midland Sports Stadiums Ltd) owned Brandon and Blackbird Road.  They sold Leicester to Barratts for housing in 1984.

They sold Coventry Stadium to Avtar Sandhu (Coventry Stadium Ltd/ Coventry Greyhounds Club Ltd / Coventry Racing Club Ltd) in 2002 

Around 2013 there were rumours that Coventry City FC were buying the stadium, but also HMRC put a block on Sandhu selling the stadium as they claimed Sandhu bought it with the help of a criminal business partner who had been convicted of money laundering and organised crime.

Sandhu eventually sold the stadium in 2016 to a Jersey company Brandon Estates Ltd.   (I have no idea who is behind Brandon Estates Ltd - someone must know)

Mick Horton was trying to lease the stadium for Speedway from them to continue in 2017.  I think Sandhu tried to lease back the running of Greyhounds too.  This fell through and Sandhu apparently broke into the stadium and allegedly stole fixtures and fittings.  Brandon Estates Ltd contacted the police and claimed no one could now run Speedway or Greyhounds at their stadium as it was an active crime scene.

That's how I remember it.

 

I don’t think the CO was more than a director of MSS at the time that Blackbird Road was sold, ie he didn’t own MSS, that was the Sandersons.

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14 hours ago, Midland Red said:

I don’t think the CO was more than a director of MSS at the time that Blackbird Road was sold, ie he didn’t own MSS, that was the Sandersons.

That’s 100% correct.

Anyways Happy new year 

up the Bees 

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If John Downer is behind this (and I stand to be corrected) he seems to be local to Coventry, based in Solihull - according to public record at Companies House.

If it is the same John Downer, here is an article about him https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Risk+taking+is+necessary+for+anyone+hoping+to+be+successful+in...-a076840456

 

 

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19 hours ago, Midland Red said:

I don’t think the CO was more than a director of MSS at the time that Blackbird Road was sold, ie he didn’t own MSS, that was the Sandersons.

...still rankled with then Leicester Promoter, Martin Rogers, as Ochiltree was regarded as the "figurehead" and suffered with a lack of communication as regards the sudden closure of Blackbird Road.

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3 hours ago, Gert Handbag said:

If John Downer is behind this (and I stand to be corrected) he seems to be local to Coventry, based in Solihull - according to public record at Companies House.

If it is the same John Downer, here is an article about him https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Risk+taking+is+necessary+for+anyone+hoping+to+be+successful+in...-a076840456

 

 

I think the Companies House listing, says John Downer is a 25% beneficial owner (not sure what beneficial owner is, unless it's another term for shareholder), so I wonder who the remaining 75% are? :unsure:  

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On 1/5/2023 at 4:49 PM, Ray Stadia said:

I think the Companies House listing, says John Downer is a 25% beneficial owner (not sure what beneficial owner is, unless it's another term for shareholder), so I wonder who the remaining 75% are? :unsure:  

A beneficial owner is a person who enjoys the benefits of ownership even though the title to some form of property is in another name. It also means any individual or group of individuals who, either directly or indirectly, has the power to vote or influence the transaction decisions usually by owning 25% or more of voting rights related shares.

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1 hour ago, 1 valve said:

A beneficial owner is a person who enjoys the benefits of ownership even though the title to some form of property is in another name. It also means any individual or group of individuals who, either directly or indirectly, has the power to vote or influence the transaction decisions usually by owning 25% or more of voting rights related shares.

Following your posting (1 valve), carrying out a bit of research myself, it seems to relate to overseas entities and as Brandon Estates is Jersey based, beneficial owners are important for money laundering purposes and probably HMRC as well. I would say John Downer simply owns 25%, which is significant, but I would say he doesn't control the company. Being an offshore enity, I'm sure it makes Brandon Estates more of a tangled web! :rolleyes:     

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When you see the depressed financial state of British speedway I would think the last thing on Brandon Estates agenda is developing a speedway/sports stadium!! 
 

The fact is property developers are purely looking a maximising the profit on investment and speedway just doesn’t stack up. 

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