Neville, the driving force behind the Class of 92 business activities with his brother Philip – who will be his assistant at Valencia –
Ryan Giggs,
Nicky Butt and
Paul Scholes, is the largest shareholder of the five in the new structure. Lim’s Rowsley company paid the five £1.9m for their shares in the BVI parent company of Hotel Football and Cafe Football and repaid their loans to the venture – £3.1m had been loaned by
Gary Neville, £1.5m by Giggs and £380,658 each by
Phil Neville, Butt and Scholes. Rowsley, Lim’s company, also paid Gary Neville £1.3m and Giggs £404,012 for half their shares in GG Collections, a Singapore-registered company which owned the Cafe Football and Hotel Football management company. The deal also repaid the former players’ £167,000 combined loans.
The restructuring means Gary Neville owns 12.5% of Orchid Leisure, the BVI parent company, Giggs 6.1% and Phil Neville, Butt and Scholes 6.4% combined. Rowsley owns the other 75%, as Lim prepares to invest further in the Manchester property market.