Nyasa Big Bullets takeover completed
Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC) has finalised the takeover of Big Bullets FC following the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) in Blantyre yesterday.
The development comes after a group of some ex-Bullets officials argued that NMC could not take over the club without a signed MoA.
The document, among other things, demands that NMC will take full control of the club for the first five years, after which they will list it on Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) and own 70 percent shares while the remaining 30 percent will be offered to any prospective investor.
It also stipulates that NMC should start a stadium project, own club houses in the country’s three regions, invest in merchandise and settle the club’s debt amounting to K184 million within three years.
NMC will also buy vehicles for all Bullets players and members of the technical panel within three years, according to the MoA.
“We needed to do this signing last year but we failed due to some other issues. However, it was important to do it before the start of the 2018 season,” said Bullets chief executive officer Fleetwood Haiya, who was accompanied by NMC and Bullets director Dimitri Kalaitzis.
“Let me assure the Bullets family that NMC will fulfill everything that is in the MoA even before we get to the agreed three years. We are serious about this. In the absence of this document, we created a room for speculations and partners were unable to understand our stand, but now things will run smoothly.”
According to Haiya, they have already embarked on their journey of fulfilling the MoA by, among other things, securing a piece of land for the stadium project, which will be unveiled in the next few months.
He added that by the end of this year, they will also start constructing a club house in the South before doing the same in the Centre and the North later.
“Moreover, we have so far paid 80 percent of Bullets debts and we have welcomed a number of partners, who will invest in the club,” he said.
It has also been agreed that gate revenue at matches will be deposited into the team’s account before being disbursed to any stakeholder and that supporters will no longer be paid 10 percent of the collection.
While describing the takeover process as away to go for Bullets to run as a commercial entity, the club’s former executive committee chairperson Noel Lipipa, who is the current marketing director, said that they have set aside K100 million of its K480 million 2018 budget for the registration of supporters nationwide and the investment in merchandise such as replica jerseys.
He also dismissed speculation that the club will soon change its traditional colours from red and white, saying, “the club will retain its colours for life”.
Lipipa said if an investor insists, they would only be allowed to change colours of their away uniform “but that would only be done with the approval of the entire Bullets family”.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) marketing director Limbani Matola and Be Forward Wanderers general secretary Mike Butao witnessed the MoA signing and described the route Bullets has taken as a path every Super League club should follow.
