THE council has paid an average of £4.71 per share for 4.2 million shares in Redwood Bank at a cost so far of £19.8 million which could eventually be £30 million.

The other shareholders have paid just one penny for the majority of each of their 8.4 million shares for a total cost of £2.2 million. That one penny is not a misprint.

This means that the council’s third shareholding of the bank’s £22 million capital is worth just £7.3 million and the council is apparently sitting on a capital loss of £12.5 million.

When the executive authorised the investment in January 2017 the shareholders’ agreement on reserved matters was incomplete, but since the council is a minority shareholder it would seem having reserved matters is somewhat academic anyway.

The council has yet to explain what provisions in the final shareholders agreement protect the council’s investment in the event that either the two father and son majority shareholders decide to put the bank into voluntary liquidation, or the council wanted to sell its shares and recoup its investment.

Taking the limited public information the council had provided so far at face value, it seems the investment carries a significant risk and they owe it to councillors and public alike to make a greater disclosure than they have so far and explain how the investment risk is minimised.

RICHARD BUTTREY Stockton Heath