Bolton Wanderers' CEO gives an update after hitting the initial target of £3.5 million on the Wanderers Bond...
How is the Wanderers Bond performing?
Neil Hart: "Well, we're absolutely delighted. We've had an amazing first week during the first investment window for the pre-registrations and from the board, Sharon, myself, Nick and Michael - thank you to everyone that's invested.
"To give you some key numbers, because that's important, we had nearly 3000 people pre-register during that pre-registration window. 600 of them have converted into investors now, and that has raised £3.5 million. So that is an unbelievable achievement. Thank you so much to everybody that has been part of that.
"I think what's happened is what we'd hoped and thought would happen, is that there's a real strong appetite from Bolton Wanderers supporters and other investors to get involved in this Football Club and come on our journey. We're delighted with the response."
Why do you think it has done so well?
NH: "Well, I think clearly there's trust and belief in us and belief in the Club and what we're doing here. I think people can see the work Football Ventures, led by the board and Sharon have done.
Myself and my team here, Ian Evatt and the players and his staff around him, I think there's a real strong collective and people can see that."
What are the benefits and why should people invest?
NH: "Let's reiterate the benefits.
"You get your 8.5% interest rate per annum, you get your 10% Championship bonus as well, which is brilliant. Obviously, it's ISA eligible as well, up to the threshold, and a full repayment the end of the five years.
"So, there's a really attractive list of benefits there. We also released our investor privileges as well, which is set at a thousand right up to £250,000+. There's some really nice privileges there."
How will the money raised be invested?
NH: "So the investment will go into two areas of the Club, one which we're calling sporting enhancements. So let's be very frank, this is about improving the player budget so we can invest accordingly in the pitch and put better players on the pitch, which is really important because we want to push on.
"Let's be very clear, Project Championship is live. We want to get this Club to the Championship. That is our ambition and we've been very clear about that. So, it's about improving the playing squad from a player point of view and bringing in players that improve it, but also improving the ones that are there.
"There's a whole piece of work going on around enhancing our medical, psychology, sports science departments and increasing and enhancing them from a resource point of view and that will happen this summer.
"Then we are looking at Lostock as a facility and as an environment and saying, 'what can we do there to improve that? What can we do there to improve that in terms of bringing better players and giving a better environment and improved environment for the current squad?'
"Secondly is the stadium infrastructure work.
"The first one is the connectivity in the stadium. As fans will know, our connectivity is coming towards its end of life, and we need to replace that. This will then give us better connectivity to talk to each other and be more digital savvy.
"Then we're looking at rethinking all of our hospitality lounges. I know not all supporters use hospitality lounges, but it's a really important part of the Football Club, having up to a thousand corporates on a matchday, making it a really important revenue stream for the Football Club and we need to improve that for them, for those supporters and we need to grow that.
"Then we can continue to enhance the Fan Zone and some of the kiosk areas and concourses, which is ongoing in terms of improving them aesthetically.
"I will also share with you that we've just signed off putting in a new LED system into the stadium, a new advertising system on the mid-tier ribbon as well as a new big screen, which is really important for the Club. So those things will give us more capability to drive more revenue to the Football Club through advertising.
"Everything we're doing is putting this Football Club on a stronger footing and every penny that comes into the Club via the bond, via supporters and other investors will be invested into placing Bolton Wanderers in a stronger position for the future.
"And I will add this, because it's a really important point, is alongside the Bond investment, there is investment coming in from our current shareholders and our current investor group, and that's a really important point to make."
Can people still invest in the Wanderers Bond?
NH: "Yes, they can. So we're now at the £3.5 million mark, which is fantastic.
"That was our baseline target and we'd love to get in excess of four, four and a half million.
"So the investment window is still open till the 16th of June. All you need to do is go on the tifosy.com/bwfc. Once you are there, you can register, get shared the offer document, which is a really important document for investors to read through - detailing everything about the Club in terms of where we're at, what we're doing, how we're doing it, our strategy, financial information, and sort of sets the parameters around investing via the bond."
Any final thoughts?
NH: "We've raised three and half million pounds, so that proves it has worked and there is a clear appetite from the fan base and other investors to invest in Bolton Wanderers Football Club.
"We want to do things differently here. We want to be innovative. We want to think outside the box.
"So this is one of those things where we've gone a bit out there and taken a little bit of a risk. But I like to think that it has worked and paid off.
"The board and I, we're delighted with the response to get to those numbers. It's fabulous and we still have a long window of investment to go now till the 16th of June.
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