Thursday 5th October, 2023 at 3:59pm
Donald McClymont, Stewart Smith and Mark Tyndall invest £500,000 in the first closing of a £1 million investment into the football club.
The Board of Partick Thistle FC announce today the completion of a £500,000 investment led by Donald McClymont, a long-term Thistle supporter. This funding is a key part of the first phase of rebuilding the club and has been completed as part of a package of measures in addition to attracting new sponsorship and commercial revenue, to improve long-term stability and ensure a strong Partick Thistle Football Club for generations to come. The investors at the closing of the first phase of the investment will own 10% of Partick Thistle.
“I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to complete this investment, having been a Jags fan for over 30 years. Partick Thistle has a tremendous legacy, and I look forward to working closely with the board and particularly with the fans, who are the core of this club, to help advance and accelerate Partick Thistle’s return to the Scottish Premier League,“ commented Donald McClymont.
“I want to extend a warm welcome to Donald and his colleagues,” commented Chris Ross, CEO of Partick Thistle. “This funding ensures sufficient cash reserves beyond the end of the season and combined with changes we are implementing, will improve key functions of the club, including our hospitality offering, which will, in turn, enhance fan experience. This is a key milestone as we strive to build a thriving fan owned football club.”
As part of the investment, two key amendments were enshrined in the club’s constitution. The investors are committed to building a long-term sustainable fan owned club and viewed these amendments as prerequisites of the transaction.
Firstly, the PTFC Trust may not be diluted below a 51% ownership percentage, ensuring the club remains in fan hands in perpetuity.
Secondly, the club may not raise material debt, guaranteeing that future boards may not overextend the club’s finances, ensuring that a “Save the Jags” scenario cannot happen.
The investor’s focus will be on driving commercial revenue organically and further improving the club’s constitution to further strengthen the voice of the fanbase for the future of the club.
A second closing of the round is planned to raise a further £500,000 on similar terms with the funds being used to continue to rebuild and strengthen the infrastructure of the Club to secure our long-term future in the top tier of Scottish football and deliver a legacy community asset for the owners of the club, our fans.
We would like to offer thanks to the trustees of the PTFC Trust, the Directors of The Jags Foundation, and the trustees of The Jags Trust who worked with us on the process.
Donald McClymont is the CEO and founder of club sponsor, indie Semiconductor, a NASDAQ-listed company based in California with operations also in Scotland. His first Thistle match at Firhill was a 1-1 draw vs. Clydebank. We missed a penalty in the last minute.
Mark Tyndall, a keen football supporter, is a business investor from Silicon Valley and an investor and board member in a Scottish private company.
Stewart Smith is a retired executive from the semiconductor industry, has been a Jags fan since the 1960s and is based in the south of Scotland
