A Buckinghamshire golf club that closed suddenly at the start of June has been bought back by its old owner.
Mentmore Golf & Country Club has been sold out of administration to a newly-formed company backed by the previous owner Simon Halabi. The club ceased trading due to financial difficulties on June 7, after which administrator Grant Thornton was appointed to seek a buyer. A bid on behalf of Mentmore’s own members was submitted, but the club was sold shortly after being placed into administration on July 3.
Precise details of the deal are unclear, as are the arrangements for creditors, debenture holders and members, but it is known that the new holding company is called Mentmore Golf Corporate Limited.
Club captain Martin Cowling, who led the members’ buy-out bid, is keen to ensure that the interests of past members are recognised under the new ownership. He said: “Many members have paid out considerable sums in five-year membership deals – some as recently as last September, and they could be left high and dry by this potentially controversial deal. While we are naturally pleased that the ownership of the club has been resolved, we are keen to hear the owner’s plans, as it is essentially the same people running the club as under the previous regime.”
The Leighton Buzzard-based club locked its doors on June 7, leaving some 50 staff without jobs and hundreds of members without a golf course to play.
The new holding company has yet to reveal how it intends to overturn its current financial difficulties and the extent to which it will honour current memberships.