Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC was the parent company of Southampton Football Club Ltd and was listed on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in operation since 1980. It allows ...

of the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. The company was placed into administration on 2 April 2009.

Subsidiaries

The wholly owned subsidiary companies of Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC were: * Southampton Football Club Ltd * St. Mary's Stadium Ltd * St. Mary's SPV Ltd * Southampton Insurance Services Ltd * Southampton Mortgage & Financial Centre Ltd * Saints Supporters Club Ltd * Southampton Swaylife Ltd * Secure Retirement Ltd * Dell Estates Ltd * St Michael's Street Homes (No. 1) Ltd * Stadium 2000 Ltd * Felix Broadcasting Ltd * South City FM Ltd * Forest FM Ltd

History

On 30 June 2006,

Rupert Lowe Rupert James Graham Lowe (born 31 October 1957) is a British politician, farmer and businessman, who served as a the Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the West Midlands constituency from 2019 to 2020. Lowe was chairman ...

resigned as Chairman of Southampton Leisure Holdings, along with other directors Andrew Cowen, Guy Askham, Mike Richards and David Windsor-Clive. On 26 February 2007,

Michael Wilde Michael Wilde, born on the Wirral, Cheshire in 1952, is a businessman who became Chairman of Southampton Football Club for two periods after the club's relegation from the Premiership, resigning on 2 April 2009, the day after the club's holding c ...

offered his resignation as a Director effective from 28 February 2007 as a result of his failure to bring in new investment. The resignation was accepted by the board as being in the best interests of the company. On 27 April 2007, it was rumoured that

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which h ...

, the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

entrepreneur who formed

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

with

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

, may launch a takeover bid for the club. An apparent close source said "he believes there is long term investment value in UK

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. Southampton is a sleeping giant, a family-supported club with traditional values, and we see the value in taking the brand global."

Administration

Shares in the company were suspended from trading on 1 April 2009, when the company announced that it was in negotiations to secure additional financing to ensure that it was able to continue trading. On 2 April 2009, Southampton Leisure Holdings declared

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

after it failed to gain investment to last for the next financial year. Administrators Mark Fry and David Hudson, partners of

Begbies Traynor Begbies Traynor () (until 1997 known as Traynor & Partners) is a firm specialising in corporate restructuring. They were formed in 1989, expanded through mergers and organic growth and were floated in 2004. The company employs over 700 people and ...

, took over control of the parent company and all assets until a new owner could be found. On 27 July 2009, DMWSL 613 Limited, a company controlled by

Markus Liebherr Markus Liebherr (30 March 1948 – 10 August 2010) was a German-born Swiss businessman and a member of one of Europe's top family business dynasties. He was a Swiss entrepreneur and owner of MALI International AG, which he founded in 1994. Life ...

bought

Southampton Football Club Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

and all its assets form the administrator. On 2 October, the listing of the shares for Southampton Leisure Holdings was cancelled. The company was placed in Creditors' Voluntary Liquidation on 22 February 2010.

References

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Southampton Leisure Holdings plc Southampton Leisure Holdings Public Limited Company, PLC was the parent company of Southampton F.C., Southampton Football Club Ltd and was listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. The company was placed into adminis ...

Publicly traded sports companies