About the Bond

Thanks to the success of both tranches of the Plough Lane Bond, AFC Wimbledon replaced all of its external and secured debt in 2022. The initial Bond raised more than £5.6m in funding, making it the largest football bond ever issued. Fans and well-wishers invested generously to facilitate the construction of the stadium and ensure Wimbledon moved back to the borough as a fan-owned club. The second tranche raised another £4.1m and closed in October 2022.

We are quite rightly proud of the commitment made by our fans to ensure the stadium could be completed. Now we look ahead to 2025 when the first of the Bonds issued in 2020 are falling due to be repaid. We are hoping that as many bondholders as possible will agree to rollover their bonds for a further five years.

Background to the Plough Lane Bonds and Maturity

The original bonds issued under Plough Lane Bond I and Plough Lane Bond II will mature and the Trust is looking to provide bondholders with the following alternative elections on maturity of their bonds:

gift the principal amount of bonds to AFC Wimbledon by assigning the right in the bonds to AFCW PLC;
gift the principal amount of bonds to the Dons Trust by assigning the right in the bonds to the Dons Trust;
exchange the principal amount of bonds for shares in AFCW PLC;
exchange the principal amount of bonds for new bonds on terms of a bondholder's choosing;
payment of the original redemption amount in cash in accordance with the terms of the original bonds.

Gifting Bonds

Bonds gifted to AFCW PLC or the Dons Trust will take effect as a waiver of the original entitlement to a redemption amount on maturity in accordance with the terms of the Plough Lane Bond Waiver Terms.

Bondholders will continue to be paid interest on their Bonds until maturity but will receive no further amount in respect of their bonds on maturity.

Exchanging Bonds for AFCW PLC shares

Bonds exchanged for shares in AFCW PLC will be exchanged on the terms of the Plough Lane Bond Share Exchange Terms.

Plough Lane III Bonds

The Trust raised £9,795,904 through the Plough Lane Bond I and II and has capacity to raise up to £11,000,000 (the Cap).

Should the amount that bondholders wish to have redeemed in 2025 exceed the amount which AFCW PLC expects and budgets to repay based on surveys of bondholders, Plough Lane Bond III will open to raise new funds. The bonds issued pursuant to Plough Lane Bond III are issued, subject to the Plough Lane Bond III conditions, to enable the Trust to make an onward loan to AFCW PLC (or a subsidiary of AFCW PLC) to replace the capital funds repaid in excess of AFCW PLC's requirements.

Bondholders will now be contacted to make their choice ahead of the repayment dates next year. Please contact us via email if you have any questions.

Since the club was reformed in 2002 as a reaction to the appalling move of Wimbledon FC to Milton Keynes, AFC Wimbledon has been proud to be fan-owned by the Dons Trust - a one-member: one-vote democratic supporter organisation.

Against all the odds, the fan-owned club rose again from the depths of non-league football and into the Football League for the second time. It has award-winning community schemes, the charitable Wimbledon Foundation and a plethora of coaching and education courses.

The volunteers who promoted the Bond in early 2020 switched their focus immediately at the start of the COVID pandemic. They launched and continue to run the award-winning Dons Local Action Group. Since March 2020 DLAG has collected outside supermarkets, delivered millions of meals through food boxes and combated food poverty, digital poverty and furniture poverty across the borough.

For further information on the club's community work check out the AFC Wimbledon Foundation and read about the incredible award-winning Dons Local Action Group here.

You Brought the Dons Home, thankyou.