Stockwood and Pettit - meet the men behind GTFC takeover
LOWDOWN ON THE DUO PRESSING AHEAD WITH PLANS TO TAKE CONTROL OF CLUB
THE Grimsby Town takeover took a big twist last week as Tom Shutes left the consortium looking to gain control of the club.
With the deal to secure John Fenty’s stake just about to cross the finishing line, Mr Shutes informed the board and the remaining members of the group of his decision to withdraw from the process, throwing the deal into major doubt.
Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit are set to continue discussions with the club though as they look for a way forward.
No timeline has been set though as to how long it will be before a decision is made one way or another, but it is hoped a takeover will be able to be pushed through with the pair.
So, what do we know about the remaining members of the consortium looking acquire Grimsby Town?
Jason Stockwood
A self-styled “accidental businessman”, Stockwood has come a long way from his council estate origins.
He graduated with a degree in philosophy, and has used his studies to form the ideas that have made his companies a success. Having spent time working in the travel industry as managing director of Travelocity Business, non-executive at Skyscanner and commercial roles with lastminute.com, Stockwood went on to become the international managing director of dating website match. com.
From there, he has gone on to come CEO and then vice-chairman of Simply Business, a business insurance provider which has gained recognition for its treatment of its employees. Simply Business was voted as the number one ‘Best Place to Work’ in the UK by The Sunday Times in both 2015 and 2016, with Stockwood winning the overall Best Leader award in the latter year.
The company’s awards led to it being accredited as a certified B Corporation - a business that balances purpose and profit, and is legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment. Among some of the ideas driving his businesses, Stockwood favours a four-day working week - a plan that has been piloted by Simply Business - and believes technology needs to be a force for good.
Explaining his approach, Stockwood said in an interview with Investec: We’ve seen productivity rise through technology. But productivity gains have gone to capital, not labour.
“If we can overlay technology into existing parts of a business to increase productivity, we can share that gain into a four-day week. On that fifth day, it’ll take pressure off the economy for people to look after their kids or retrain, or write poetry or whatever, which would help humanity flourish. At its best, it would create more civil harmony as productivity, capital and labour divide.”
His approach to technology will be a big plus for Mariners fans, with the club crying out to be brought into the modern era across all areas.
Andrew Pettit
A name that is no doubt familiar to anyone in Grimsby or Cleethorpes, Pettit has made his living away from the family butchers trade. A graduate of the University of Sussex in law and French, Pettit has been a qualified solicitor in the property sector for over 25 years. He was formerly a managing director and head of the European real estate principal transactions business at Lehman Brothers, and a solicitor at Clifford Chance in the Property Finance Group.
Pettit is a founding partner of Revcap, an independently owned European fund manager that targets small and medium-sized real estate joint ventures.
He is also involved with Riverstone Developments, a private equity backed commercial real estate property developer and investor focusing on delivering all types of commercial schemes across the UK.
His background in real estate transactions will no doubt be an advantage as the club look to finally get their relocation underway after decades of waiting.