The Trust Email by Darran 23 Nov 2018 14:15
As previously communicated to members, the Swans’ Trust Board is keen to provide regular updates to members on various issues. This update will focus specifically on the progress regarding the Trust’s minority shareholding in the club and the proposed mediation process. We realise that it can seem to members that progress is slow on this issue. As this statement will outline, the Trust is faced with obstacles to progress that are not of our making.

Earlier this month we were hoping to use this update to confirm that a formal mediation meeting would be taking place with the majority owners and other parties in London on 29 and 30 November. However, after those dates had been agreed, an independent mediator reserved and Trust’s representatives had arranged to take time off from work and rearrange family commitments, the Trust were informed that Jason Levien could no longer attend, with no suitable alternative representative provided. At the time of this update, no alternative dates have been agreed. Whilst the Trust will always look for the possibility to obtain a mediated settlement, our experience while trying to start mediation shows that the other parties involved are not committed to this process.

Furthermore, the Trust has still not received a response to our claim letter of 18 May 2018 from the majority owners or the other parties involved. We are now three months past the maximum timeline (of three months) that the Practice Direction, which are the legal guidelines which parties in dispute should follow before they can start court proceedings, allows. While the club’s majority owners have recently committed to providing a formal response to our claim letter by 23 November (after not meeting previous deadlines), the lack of responses within and well beyond the deadlines set by the guidelines is already completely unacceptable. No proposed date for a response to our claim letter has been received from the legal representatives for Huw Jenkins and other selling shareholders. The Trust and our legal representatives believe this is indicative of the lack of any viable defence on their part.

As outlined in our last statement and as a result of the lack of progress on mediation and the cancellation of the agreed dates, the Trust Board will progress with our plans to carry out a members’ consultation in the coming weeks. In the absence of progress in obtaining a mediated settlement, the only options we can currently provide to our members are limited to whether to pursue legal action or not. The Trust Board is currently working with our legal representatives to provide as much information as possible regarding these options, to allow members to make as informed a decision as possible. We will announce the exact timeline for this as soon as possible.

22 November 2018