Hearts administration: Ukio Bankas make BDO approach

Lithuanian bank Ukio Bankas has approached insolvency experts BDO to become Hearts' administrators, according to reports.

The Tynecastle club confirmed last night they planned to serve the Court of Session with their intention to apply for administration.

The club's board are understood to want accountants from KPMG to handle their case.

However, Press Association Sport has learned that BDO - the firm currently battling to save Dunfermline - is the preferred choice of Kanuas-based Ukio Bankas, which owns 29.9 per cent of Hearts and is owed £15million by the club. It also holds a claim against Tynecastle as security on the debt.

However, the bank last week lost an appeal against being liquidated and its operations and finances are now being controlled by Gintaras Adomonis of Lithuanian administrators UAB Valnetas.

Hearts majority shareholder UBIG - which owns 50 per cent of the club - has had its assets frozen after admitting it cannot service its liabilities. Administrators, however, have yet to be appointed to oversee its fight for survival, leaving the Ukio Bankas administrator to call the shots.

The troubled situation of both companies - both formerly controlled by Vladimir Romanov - has now raised real fears among the club's supporters that Tynecastle could be sold off to meet the debts of the parent companies.

A decision on which firm will handle the Jambos' administration process is likely to be made today, with a hearing at the Court of Session expected to follow tomorrow.

The decision to place the club in administration follows months of turmoil at Tynecastle.

A winding-up order launched by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in December over an unpaid £450,000 tax bill was only staved off with the help of a £1million sum raised by supporters.

The threat of a second winding-up order following a row over an outstanding £100,000 sum caused yet more panic, although the majority of that sum has now been paid.

But that was not the end of their troubles as the Tynecastle outfit were then hit with an automatic transfer embargo by the Scottish Premier League last Friday after admitting they could not afford to pay their players.

The club was already under a temporary signing ban after the league was informed of their tax row.

The SPL took action just 24 hours after the Gorgie board released a statement saying they had entered a "critical" stage in their battle to service a £25million debt as well as financing tax payments and running costs.

The entire Jambos squad was put up for sale in a desperate bid to raise the reported £500,000 needed to see the club through to the start of the new season.

Labour MP Ian Murray is leading the Foundation of Hearts supporters' group who hope to buy the club, with a formal bid expected to be lodged by the end of the month. There is also interest from a number of other parties, including a Scandinavian consortium.

The club are now set to face a 15-point penalty when the new SPL season kicks off on August 3.

Top-flight rules state any club suffering an insolvency event will be stripped of 10 points or a third of their previous season's tally, whichever is the greater. Hearts finished the 2012-13 campaign in 10th place with 45 points.

Taken from the Scotsman