[Sunday Lunchtime at Exeter St David’s Railway Station]

Adrian’s driver, Cliff was waiting for him as he got off the train from Bristol.

“How did last night go Boss?” asked Cliff as he got into the car outside the station.

“I think she will go for it. As Sally said, she has a great brain and she looked pretty good last night. As I’d hoped, she has gone away to think about things.”

Then he changed the subject.

Adrian had worked late into the night following Maxine’s tip about things starting to move. He’d made a couple of long phone calls to contacts of his in the USA before going to bed.

“Any news from Georgia? They should be online about now even if it is a Sunday?”

“Yes. We received an email from Lance a short while ago. The team from the UK is meeting with their counterparts, again this morning and then going to play Golf. Someone is really putting out the red carpet because they are playing at Augusta National. Both teams worked long into the night. Lance thinks that a deal might be concluded tomorrow.”

“That soon?”

“Didn’t take them long. I guess the intermediary had done his job well beforehand.”

“Do we know who it is?”

“Yeah, Lance sent me his bio. Apparently, he worked for the UK company until he was fired around a year ago. Since then he has been working as a freelance consultant. He’s been hawking around the idea of getting another Hotel Company to take over the UK one and do some ‘housecleaning’. His proposals have always entailed getting rid of the more esoteric hotels in the group and concentrating on taking the whole chain downmarket.”

“As if that end of the market is not crowded enough. I guess the recent Whitbread and Travelodge results have given his argument more weight. Do we know how much he stands to make from the deal?” asked Adrian.

“At least ten percent on the sale price. The book value of the company is around sixty million. I’d expect at least a ten-percent premium at least in order to tempt the shareholders.”

Then Cliff added,
“Lance also sent over some interesting facts on this intermediary. It is pretty obvious that his lifestyle can’t be funded by his declared employment. All the details are in the folder.”

Adrian sat back and thought for a few minutes as the car headed towards the Devon Coast.

“Cliff, we need to make a diversion.”

Cliff smiled.
“I thought we might. I’ve already programmed it into the SatNav.”

“Cliff, you are a star you know.”

“I know but as long as you keep telling me then we are good,” came the reply from the front seat.

---

Thirty-five minutes later, the car pulled up at an Hotel on the Devon Coast. Adrian got out and went inside.

“Hello, my name is Adrian Forsythe. I’d like to see the manager if this is possible?” he said to the receptionist.

The receptionist did as she’d been trained to do, gave him the once over.
“Are you a rep? We don’t accept rep calls without an appointment especially on a Sunday.”

“No, I’m not a rep. I’m here to see her about the Hotel and its future.”

“Ok, I’ll call her but she might not want to see you today.”

“That’s fine,” said he replied hoping that it would not be the case. But he added.
“Please tell her that the very future of the Hotel could be under threat.

The receptionist picked up the phone and quickly punched in an extension number. A few seconds later it was answered.

“Ms Jackson, there is a Mr Adrian Forsythe in reception asking to meet with you. Something about the Hotel and its future.”

The receptionist listened for a moment.

“Thanks boss, I’ll tell him.”

Then she put the phone down.

“Ms Jackson said that if you go into the bar and order tea for two, she will see you in a few minutes.”

He smiled.
“Thank you… Hayley. That’s a nice name.”

Then he walked away from reception and into the bar.

---

Around ten minutes later, the manager joined him in the bar.

“Mr Forsythe? I’m Belinda Jackson, Manager of this Hotel.”

“Pleased to meet you Ms Jackson. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Belinda smiled back at him.
“Not all bad I hope?”

“Far from it. You seem like a very go-ahead person to me.”
She visibly relaxed at the comment.

Adrian poured them both cups of tea. He hoped that she noticed this and decided to let him give her his pitch before sending him on his way.

“So, what’s all this the Hotel and its future? You do know that this place is part of a hotel chain don’t you?”

He smiled back at her.
“I do know that. That is why I’m here.”

He took a deep breath before continuing.

“At this very moment, a high-level team from the chain that owns this Hotel is meeting with a team from GeoStay Inc in Georgia and discussing a takeover by GeoStay of the UK company. If you don’t know, GeoStay is mostly owned by Frederick Mangan. Frankly, he is not someone I would want to do business with. GeoStay run a chain of low cost motels in the Southern USA. If you know the French Budget Motels like ‘Formule 1’ then you get the sort of thing I mean. Part of the takeover would probably mean that Hotels like this one would get sold off or closed down. They are all about bodies in, bodies out and most certainly not customer service. If you look at the ratings sites you will see their places hardly ever get above a one star in the ratings yet they are very profitable. It is all about profit and most certainly not customer satisfaction with them.”

Then he added,
“The TripAdvisor and Trivago ratings for this Hotel are, by a long way the highest in the group. That is if you don’t mind me saying, down to the management and the employees.”

Belinda sat looking at him for several seconds. He thought from her body language, she knew that I was sincere about what he’d just said.

“Do you have any proof of this takeover? Or is this just some scam on your part?”

“If you were to call your head office first thing on Tuesday morning and ask for any of these people, you would be told that they are unavailable. They all flew from Birmingham to Atlanta last Wednesday by Geostay’s private Jet. There is a UK company board meeting scheduled for a week tomorrow. The MD, Hugh Bannister would love to be able to present the takeover as a done deal then. As you know, he was appointed when Drake-Wilson Capital took a majority shareholding two years ago. He’s turned around the group so it is time for the VC’s to take their money and run. This deal will let them exit stage left with a hefty profit and the company with a whole load more debt. The new owners will see that when they get a look at the real books, not the ones used for the Due Diligence and Companies House reporting.”

He presented Belinda with a list of senior company officials.
Again, from her reaction, she knew that he’d had done his homework. The ‘debt’ thing was new to her.

“This debt thing? And the two sets of books? I don’t get it at all?”

Adrian smiled.
“I’ve been tracking this group for a while ever since that announced their plans to spread into Europe. The UK is a great place to start that invasion from, for one thing we more or less speak the same language.”

“As for the second set of books, I’ve seen it time and time again where a company that is owned by some Vulture Capitalists are taken over leaving the polish of a profitable business behind only to be sold again a few years later for a few pounds. All the value in the business is ‘poof’ gone. Ask yourself where that value went and why the new owners didn’t cry wolf when they discovered the falsification of the books?”

He didn’t wait for her to answer.
“Reputation that’s what. Look at what is happening with Autonomy. HP took them over and suddenly after a change at the top they are having to basically write the business down. That means either that the due diligence was not done properly or the books as presented at the time of the takeover did not represent the true picture of the business. My guess is the former but there is still a twenty percent chance of the latter. HP will probably not let this rest and this may well take years and years to resolve in the courts. Therefore, it is often better for the management to just shut up and let the business fail and move on elsewhere.”

“Oh, and in addition, you were granted planning permission for a new wing to the hotel more than a year ago, but the funding from Head Office has not been forthcoming despite your pleas if I am right? You have been fobbed off with all sorts of reasons but my guess is that it was all part of the plan to get the company ready to be sold off. As you are no doubt aware, a site with planning permission is always worth more than not.”

“If this all were true, what can I do about it? Nothing that’s what. This place is a mere pawn in the game of corporate roulette.”

“That is probably true but as the group needed a VC to save the day, perhaps this hotel needs one as well. A proper investor that would take a long term view of the business rather than just the next few quarters. An investor that would buy the hotel, build the new wing and then put in place a plan to gradually transfer ownership to the management without taking out value or leaving a mountain of debt. An investment company that has a proven track record of doing just that over many years.”

“You sound like my Fairy-godmother and as we all know they just don’t exist.”

“Oh Belinda, we do exist believe me. It is just that we don’t like to advertise ourselves.” Adrian replied smiling.

Adrian took a hefty swig of tea before continuing.
“Nicely made cup of tea by the way.”

“Let me leave you this file. It tells you a lot of information about my organisation and what I have been describing. You can verify most of what it says with the Internet. By all means make some enquiries of your own. Make your own mind up and then give me a call. If I am right about the takeover, then a bid to take this property off their hands at a good discount might well succeed if done quickly.”

“I have had my lawyers prepare a bid document. All it needs is for us to formalise our arrangement and agree a price and it will happen. Don’t worry Belinda, if you say no then I walk away and you will never hear from me again. The draft agreement is in the file. It is a draft so if you do come on board then don’t be afraid to offer up some changes but I think that you may well find the terms agreeable to you and your partner, Nina.”

Adrian stood up and took one step away from the table before stepping back.

“Let me leave you with one last bit of information. There is one person who stands to make a lot of money from takeover and that is this man. My spies told me that you were instrumental in getting him fired from the company. If the reports I have seen are correct, then you are a formidable business woman if you don’t mind me saying so.”

He took out a small folder from his briefcase and gave it to her.

Belinda opened it and saw the picture of Jon Lord.

“How did you know?”

“Background research. As I said, I’ve been watching the group for around ten months. Most Venture Capitalist companies are involved in businesses for a limited time. Their business model is to get in, fix a few things and get out again hopefully with a profit. That often leaves the business with a lot more debt than when they became involved. I monitor a number of these companies and from time to time, I see an opportunity to take a longer and a more strategic view and where I work with their management to improve the business to the benefit of the business and the owners. The way I work is far removed from the asset stripping that many VC’s use to turn a quick profit and leaving more debt than when they stepped in to supposedly ‘rescue’ the business in the first place.”

Adrian continued,
“Once I had identified that it might be time for Drake-Barnes Capital to move on the group and I’d seen the reviews of this hotel on sites like TripAdvisor, I had an associate of mine do the research on the business you have here. A copy of that report is in the folder. I know from first-hand experience that you run a great business here and I don’t want that to change.”

Then he added,
“A good country hotel like this one just does not fit in with the model that GeoStay would impose if were they to take over the company.”

He took a deep breath.

“I’ll be in Plymouth until the end of the week. It has been nice meeting you Ms Jackson. I hope that we can get together and do some business that will be beneficial to both of us in the near future.”

He left Belinda sitting there wondering what the hell had just happened.

[some 30 minutes later at the hotel]

Belinda’s thoughts were still buzzing from her meeting with Adrian when they were interrupted by her partner Nina.

“Ah, there you are. Those people at head office are just impossible.”

“Hi Nina. What’s wrong this time?”

“You remember we ordered some new flip chart pads for the course next week?”

“Oh yes. That was two weeks ago. What’s the problem?”

“They won’t be coming. I got an email today. For some reason, it was sent on Friday and only just delivered. Some bean-counter has deemed that they are capital expenditure and there is a hold on all ‘capex’ for some reason.”

Suddenly she started to understand, put two and two together and certainly made four. This was just the latest problem they’d been having with getting things done by Head Office.

She tried to smile at her lover and assistant but all she got was a feeble smirk.

“What’s up?” asked Nina.

“I think I know what the problem is. Can we leave it until we get home tonight? I don’t want to talk about it here.”

Nina glared at back at her. She almost asked ‘why?’ but she got the message.

“Bring your laptop with you. I think we will need two machines tonight. We could be in for a long night.”

Nina didn’t want to argue with her boss and lover. She’d learned in the year that she’d been working here to trust her. That was one of the reasons why she loved her but also found her at times to be one of the most frustrating person she’d ever met. She knew that this was Belinda being herself and she knew that life with her would never get stuck in a rut.

Later that evening, Nina returned from the kitchen after putting away the dinner things. She found that Belinda already setup both their laptops on the dining table. In the middle of them was a folder. It wasn’t open. Nina gave me a little smile. Belinda was waiting for her.

“Ok, what is the real reason why we can’t get the pads?” asked Nina as she sat down next to me.

“Out of the blue this afternoon, I had a visitor at the Hotel. That’s why I was in the bar. I got him to pay for some tea in return for letting him speak. It wasn’t planned but as it wasn’t a sales rep and I needed a cuppa, so I listened to what he had to say. This is him. Adrian Forsythe. As soon as I heard his name, I knew I’d heard his name before but couldn’t remember where or why it was.”

His face was on the screen of Belinda’s laptop.

“Who is he?” asked Nina, “I’ve never heard of him.”

“He’s an investor. Very much the under the radar sort. He invests in all sorts of businesses and most of the time he helps the management buyout the business and make a go of it. From what I’ve learned in the past few minutes, everything of what he said to me is true. After a period of time, he gradually reduces his stake in the business and the management become the true owners. He sometimes keeps a minority stake and is ready to act as an investor if needed in the future. He seems to be very much of a silent partner as well as an advisor.”

Nina seemed no wiser.

“But how does that apply to us?”

“Well, my darling it seems that our Head Office are selling us out to an American Chain. That chain operates at the bottom end of the market and may well want our nice little establishment off their books ASAP for a variety of reasons.”

“Eh? What reasons?”

“We don’t fit in with the sort of hotel these guys run in America. Then the owner is pretty right wing and might not appreciate us and our bunch of social and sexual misfits.”

“So, they’ll want rid of us then?”

“Yes. That’s where Mr Forsythe would come in.”

“I think I get it. If the bean counters in Birmingham can make the books look good, then the VC’s might get a few more pence per share in the sale.”

“That’s sort of exactly what he said to me earlier.”

Then Belinda went silent.

“What’s up? Isn’t that a good idea?”

“On the surface, it seems that it is. But I just don’t know. This is all a long way from running a Hotel. Being an owner is a big step.”

Nina smiled and put her hand on Belinda’s.

“That’s why I’m here to help. What’s in the folder?”

“I don’t know. He said that everything I needed to know would be in there but I daren’t look.”

Nina didn’t waste any time. She pulled the folder towards them and opened it.

Half an hour later, they’d read all the documents in the folder together. Nina was angry. It was the section on the ‘Intermediary’ that did it. As soon as she saw the name Jon Lord, she almost exploded.
“Mr Forsythe seems to have covered all the bases.”

“Grrrrr” answered Nina.

“No Nina, not Grrrrr but a chance to get even. He once took you for granted and I think his plan is get this place closed down once the merger is all done and dusted. His way of getting revenge on us and making a shed load of money for himself at the same time.”

“How much money?” asked Nina.

Belinda sat back and thought for a moment.

“I don’t know exactly but Mr Forsythe seemed to indicate that it was a percentage of the sale price. Around ten percent seems to be the norm.”

“I want to kick him where it hurts,” said Nina.
“Hard!”.

Belinda sat back thinking. She’d been doing a lot of that these past few hours.

“So, it seems that it is down to us then.”

“Eh?” asked a still angry Nina.

“Do we want the Hotel to be ours? In the long term? I’m talking about us you know.”

Nina didn’t reply right away.

“Nina?”

She smiled at back at Belinda

“Do you remember when you asked me to marry you, right at the outset of our relationship?”

“How can I forget? You gave me the best put down ever.”

They both laughed briefly.

“The question still stands you know?” She said gently.

“And I’ve been far too much of a coward to answer. Yes?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No but as time has gone by I’ve dithered and dithered about giving you an answer. Don’t we have a good thing going here?”

“We do my darling, we do. But this thing about the Hotel has just… brought it all to the fore again.”

Nina nodded.

Then she said quietly,
“Yes and Yes.”

“Eh?”

“Yes, to marrying you and yes to wanting to own the hotel. I just love if here. Damm it Belinda, I love you and I really have been too much of a coward to tell you. I love this area and want to stay here with you.”

Then she added,
“Fuck Jon Lord and fuck those numpties in Birmingham! We can do this!”

Dawn was breaking when Nina called a halt to their work.

“I am too tired to do any more,” she said as she closed her laptop.

“Yeah, I’m beat too.”

“Can we just review where we are before we crash?”

Nina chuckled. This was the Belinda she’d grown to trust and then to love.

“That is simple. This Adrian guy is kosher. He runs a very much in the background investment company. From the data, he provided and so far, it seems 100% correct these businesses are varied but the two common factors we have been able to determine are one, he invests in small businesses that have had real issues getting funding for investments from banks and two, he isn’t afraid of investing in businesses that are run by members of the LGBT community. That good enough?”

Belinda smiled and leaned over and kissed her partner and lover.

On the Tuesday morning, Belinda took some time away from the hotel and went into Exeter. There she paid for and received legal opinion on the draft contract at two different law firms. Belinda was amazed that both companies reported that it was a fair contract all around.

On the Friday, Belinda and Nina signed the contract and sent it by messenger to Adrian. Then, all they had to do was wait.

[one week later]
“I’ve just received this email from Head Office,” said Belinda to Nina with a resignation in her voice.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“It is. I think we need to call a staff meeting.”

“I’ll get it organised for this afternoon once the cleaners have done the rooms,” said Nina.

“Adrian was right in his assumptions, wasn’t he?”

Belinda nodded.

“Damm it darling, he was. Why do I feel so empty when I should be happy?”

Nina went and hugged her partner.

“As Adrian said, it is all down to the acceptance of his bid. If they reject it, then we are all up shit creek without a paddle.”

“And there is nothing we can do one way or the other. It is all out of our hands but at least we are trying.”

“I’d better let him know about the email but it wouldn’t surprise me if he already knows about the take-over, and the planned disposal of this and three other properties.” said Belinda.

Nina had to agree with her but could not help feeling if a huge great chasm was about to open up and everyone would just disappear from the face of the planet.

[to be continued]