Estatesdirect.com persuaded 181 Crowdcube investors to part with £493k in 2014 - at a company valuation of £5m
We wrote about them recently as they are way off track and all but one of the original stella lineup had left.
Well turns out they didn't leave, they were bought out. We spoke to the company CEO and he confirmed that the A shareholders were 'made an offer they couldnt refuse'. He was one of them.
According to figures at CH and we mention here that these figures have in the past proved unreliable, the company issued 50m shares in 2016 - increasing their issued shares to 150m. These new shares were issued for around £500k. This in turn values the company at around £1.5m. All the shares were purchased by PP Asset Management owned by the Pels family office. Pels now own just over 100m of the 150m shares through PP Asset Management and a new vehicle PP Online Estate Agent Holdings - 100% owned by PP AM.
We just wonder, when Crowdcube create one of their many infographics showing the fictional increase in values for all the investors who have bought shares via the platform, is this massive down round included?
Does this mean the investors from Crowdcube loose everything ?
ReplyDeleteWell that depends. They still own their shares which are now worth a third fo their value or probably lower. If the company manages a turnaround and makes it then they will get a ROI otherwise its the same story as usual - locked into a worthless venture until it closes. Moral must be that A SH get some protection - altho in this case not much as would have been out voted. The whole episode looks v dubious to us and more like tax a evasion ruse then an investment opportunity.
Deleteits a disgrace. i even wonder if this was their plan from the start. They must have had some fun with that 500k. I actually thought they came back for more and did two raises on Crowdcube....I am sure they did actually...?
ReplyDeleteYeah sorry, didn't really get it yesterday.
ReplyDeleteKeeping it simple, the investors in 2014 bought at 5M valuation. Pels Family bought at 1.5M valuation.
Thus the shares the crowdcube investors have bought have lost 70% of their value in two years.
Be interesting to follow this one through. PP were one of the original investors, investing 300k at the same price as the crowd. All rather odd.
ReplyDelete