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THINK golf. Think clubbable company directors in Pringle sweaters. Think manicured greens, gentlemanly fair play and relaxing gin and tonics at the 19th hole. But there is nothing gentle about the battle for control of Clubhaus, one of Britain's biggest golf and country club operators.
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On one side of the fairway are chief executive Charlie Parker and chairman Robert Bourne, the flamboyant property entrepreneur famous for failing to buy the Millennium Dome. They are held responsible for the disastrous performance that has left Clubhaus in the doghouse.
On the other side are maverick newspaper publisher and novelist Eddy Shah, former Davis Cup tennis star David Lloyd and millionaire former pipe fitter Paul Davidson. They want a boardroom clear-out and new management installed.
With more than 40,000 members in clubs in Britain, Germany, France and Spain, Clubhaus is one of the biggest owners and operators of golf and health and fitness clubs. But the business - listed on the Alternative Investment Market - has hit the rough with the share price plunging from a peak of more than 100p two years ago to just 3 1/4p, valuing the company at a mere £3 million. In the six months to June, Clubhaus ran up losses of £25 million.
In November there was more bad news. According to the directors, adverse trading conditions in Germany, bad weather in Britain and overall market uncertainty had prompted a £75 million asset writedown, testing shareholders' patience to the limit.
And last week they finally lost their cool at an extraordinary meeting called because the company's assets were worth less than its share capital. Parker and Bourne revealed they were in talks with bondholders and bankers over a debt restructuring after Clubhaus failed to pay £3.8 million interest on a £60 million bond. At the meeting, Shah received a standing ovation after calling for the directors to resign.
Now Davidson, the self-made multi-millionaire behind inventions company Oysterec, has offered to buy Clubhaus's assets for £65 million. But he wants the board to quit and his group of shareholders - including Shah, Lloyd and Martin Knight, deputy chairman of Crown Sports - to take control.
He was in fighting form last week. 'The current Clubhaus people were better at building the business than running it,' he said. 'My interest is to hire the best people to do the job, and Lloyd, Shah and Knight are a very strong team. It's like buying Macclesfield Town and then bringing in the whole Manchester United squad.'
Money is the motivating force for Davidson, rather than a wish to get out on to the first tee. 'My golfing handicap is my clubs and my golf balls,' he said. 'But I put £1 million into this company and the shares have gone down to almost nothing.'
Shah is even more forthright. 'The directors have destroyed the company,' he said. 'The shareholders have suffered, but we're going to fight these guys.'
Shah has accused the directors of breaching financial rules, and the Department of Trade and Industry is investigating claims.
He said: 'While Clubhaus has been doing so badly, my leisure companies have had a great period. They're blaming everything, even 11 September, but no one runs a business this badly.'
Davidson's belief that the present directors will take the company into receivership prompted his offer. 'If that happened, everyone loses,' he said. 'It would be a nightmare.' But why would the directors do that? 'I made my offer to stop someone else doing the dirty. We're not interested in restructuring the business. We just want to make it profitable.'
Davidson's team is concentrating on getting rid of the directors, including Parker and Bourne. And with more than 10% of the shares, the team is calling an extraordinary general meeting to force the issue. 'If they don't resign, we'll make them,' said Davidson, who on Friday bought more shares to increase his holding to 9.9%.
Shah insisted that the team was not trying to take over Clubhaus. Parker remains unworried. 'We're looking at getting maximum value for shareholders and we're focused on finding a solution,' he said. 'What other people are doing is not necessarily helpful, but we have to sit and take the punches.'
So he's not going to resign? 'I could walk away right now, but no, I'm not standing down because I'd be failing in my duty to shareholders who have trusted me to sort this thing out,' Parker insisted.
His view on the vocal investors who obviously don't rate him? 'I will not engage in a newspaper-driven debate,' he said wearily. 'We are keeping our heads down.'
The hunt for a solution includes tense meetings with shareholders, bankers and bondholders - and it could even include Davidson's plan. 'Who knows?' said Parker.
At the very least, the regulars at the 19th hole have more than the occasional birdie to talk about.
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