Trust meets with suitor

Last Thursday evening, 3 of us from the committee - Justin, Tracy and William - met with Haleem Kherallah,the businessman who is currently bidding to purchase asignificant number of Loftus Road plc shares. The purpose of the meeting was to have a chat about his interest in QPR and for us to also inform Haleem of the details of the newly launched Hoops Fund.

We met at a West London hotel, quite near to his restaurant where a group of us met with him around two years ago at a time when he had been having talks with the JR Ivan consortium bid for the club. We recalled how at that last meeting Haleem had come across as an energetic and animated man. As it happens, he was just as animated last Thursday and proved to be a gracious host, ushering us to a table that he had pre-booked for us, and ordering some drinks for everyone.

We began discussions by actually talking about that original meeting and asking how things had been, and progressed, with him during the intervening two years. He informed us he still has his restaurants and has recently branched out in the nightclub business. He doesn't have much contact with JR these days, and if his bid to purchase a significant number of Loftus Road plc shares is successful, thus making him the biggest shareholder in the company, he told us how this would be a sole buyout.

He is currently bidding for the 26% of shares in QPR Nominees and is also bidding for Chris Wright's personal 16% shareholding and he has been in talks with the board, though progress has been rather slow. This then led us all into a brief discussion on the various Company Laws which have to be strictly adhered
to, basically meaning that if Haleem is bidding to become the majority shareholder, this would require an approach to the takeover panel, as well as the need for an egm being called for the shareholders to vote on any possible takeover to go ahead.

We then moved on to speak about club finances and we
told him about the launch of the Hoops Fund and handed
him all the relevant literature (press releases and articles from the programme etc) for him to read at his leisure. We explained in a nutshell about the concept of the Fund and how though it will be a slow burn venture, we are positive that the outcome will
reaps many rewards, the main being some much needed cash injections for the club, but also a significant shareholding for the fans collectively, in order to enable supporter influence. He seemed very receptive to the idea and said how he would be happy to work with the Trust should his bid become successful in the future.

We then gently probed him as to what kind of cash injection he could bring into the club and though he admitted he hasn't got millions to shell out, he told us how the money he would pay for the combined shares would come from his own pocket - a significant amount, though he wouldn't divulge on how much exactly - and would prove to help stabilise the club. He also
mentioned how he has possible other parties willing to invest in the club, again from their own pockets. He had lots of ideas about cost cutting - specifically with regard to the costs for stewarding and cleaning contracts - and mentioned how we will need to look at other money making ventures. He also said how he is more than willing to speak with ABC Corporation as regards some kind of restructure for the £10m loan.

On more personal terms, Haleem spoke of his desire and passion for QPR. Once again it was obvious that his knowledge on football is immense though he does get a little muddled on players names etc. He's obviously extremely proud of who and what he is. How he came from nothing, slept rough for a couple of months, but
how he overcame all of that to build up what he now has. He's been a lawyer in the past, and is now a football agent, a restaurateur, and his latest venture has been the taking over of a large nightclub in London. He also has a variety of properties in London.

By now time was getting on and he needed to get away in order to attend the premier of a film in the West End. We parted on good terms and agreed to keep in touch.

We hope you have enjoyed this summary of the meeting and also hope our apologies are accepted for being unable to write this report up before now. Please bear in mind this was a preliminary meeting with Haleem to renew contact with him and we aim to meet with him again shortly with view to an update on the progress of his bid.

April 2003