📝 Result of the OTR Purchase Membership Vote

On May 9 Exeter City Supporters’ Trust announced a ballot providing members the opportunity to vote on whether the Trust should gain full control of OTR (Exeter) Ltd, the owners of The Park building at St James Park.

Following the closure of the ballot at 12pm today (Monday May 27) we can confirm that members have voted in favour of the club taking this action.

In answer to the question ‘do you approve the Trust Board recommendation to loan Exeter City FC £324,000 to enable it to gain full control of OTR (Exeter) Limited (The Park)’ the total number of votes cast were 1,686 (40% of the membership) and the results are as follows:

Yes - 1,660

No - 17 

Abstentions - 9 

The Park building consists of the club’s offices, some storage areas, Supporter’s Bar, Trust Hospitality Suite and bar, the Museum room, and The Legends Lounge. It also owns the area adjacent to the Nevada Stand (known as the Fan Zone) up to the metal gates separating it from Stadium Way.

The Supporters’ Trust will engage appropriate legal representation to ensure the transfer of the asset/transfer of control is completed appropriately, and that the club continues to service the building in the same manner it does at present.

OTR (Exeter) Limited was initially formed by seven local people to purchase and develop the building in 1998, at a time when the club did not have the necessary funds and as a way of safeguarding the club against the sale of its assets if there was an insolvency situation.

Each investor formed part of a Participation Agreement that contained two fundamental conditions:

1. That no investor should receive interest on the monies lent to the Company (unless all participants agreed) and that each investor would resign as a member of the Company when their loan was repaid; and 
2. That once the loans were repaid the building would be dealt with as the Club required.

Nick Hawker, chair of Exeter City Supporters’ Trust, said: "The investment from the seven members of OTR came at a vital time for our club and has helped us to become stable and grow. We are extremely grateful to all the investors who were part of this group whose generosity was key at the time and who did so purely because they cared about the future of our football club."

The building dates back to 1844, when it was established as a National School at the back of St James Church, which was later destroyed in the May 1942 Blitz. The school was converted to club premises as part of the 2000/2001 redevelopment.