navigation search musselburgh and fisherrow co operative society type former consumer co operative industry retail leisure real estate funerals founded march 27 1862 1862 03 27 1 2 3 headquarters musselburgh scotland area served musselburgh and dalkeith key people tom lees chief executive jean whitehead president 4 members 1080 2005 4 website www.mfco op.co.uk internet archive 2006 musselburgh and fisherrow co operative society limited m & f co op was a retail consumer co operative trading in musselburgh and dalkeith in east lothian scotland . it was founded as a co operative in 1862 and in 2007 joined the small number of uk co operative retailers to demutualize . in the years immediately prior to demutualizing m & f co op ran a funeral business a food shop and department store in musselburgh and also invested in commercial property including shops and a leisure complex at fisherrow harbour . it converted into a private company limited by shares called m & f scotland limited . contents 1 demutualization 1.1 2005 demutualization attempt 1.2 2007 demutualization 2 operations 3 co operative movement 4 references 5 external links demutualization edit m & f co op made headlines as one of a very few retail members of the british co operative movement to demutualize . 5 6 2005 demutualization attempt edit demutualization of uk co operatives demutualization of a co operative is sometimes known as conversion or privatization and involves the consumer members 7 surrendering their one member one vote democratic control of the business in exchange for a windfall of cash or shares of a joint stock company . the stock company acquires control of the business and ownership of its assets . the most notable demutualization plan of a uk retail co operative was the 1997 failed hostile takeover bid for the co operative wholesale society by andrew regan . a number of the uk s agricultural supply co operatives that engage in retailing demutualized successfully in the late 20th century . a 2005 attempt by m & f co op to demutualize was halted by a court of session interdict and resulted in an investigation by the financial services authority fsa the regulator for industrial and provident societies such as m & f co op. 4 8 the petition for interdict which was made by eight members opposing demutualization including former president george cunningham alleged 19 governance irregularities including conflicts of interest and an inquorate board of directors as three of the six directors had resigned in preceding weeks . 8 the fsa investigation reported in 2006 that m & f co op s democratic governance had not been functioning effectively . 9 2007 demutualization edit the board called a further members meeting for june 2007 to vote on a demutualization resolution . 6 in september 2007 the m & f co op incorporated a private limited company m & f scotland limited and transferred its assets and obligations to it deregistering as an industrial and provident society on 1 october 2007 . 3 10 co operative news reported that m & f co op had technically demutualized and was no longer eligible for membership of co operatives uk due to its articles granting voting rights on the proportion of shares owned rather than the fundamental co operative principle of one member one vote . 11 musselburgh is a coastal town 6 miles 10 km from edinburgh operations edit m & f co op operated a food store and a non food department store in musselburgh high street a commercial property business and funeral services in musselburgh and dalkeith . 12 13 14 15 16 17 in january 2006 m & f co op had net assets of 6 745 943 . 4 it built and operated the quayside restaurant and leisure complex overlooking fisherrow harbour which opened in 1992 . 18 19 it sold it in 2007 to leisure entrepreneur charan gill who refurbished it and renamed it the quay . 20 21 the commercial property business also leased shops . 22 co operative movement edit in 2007 it was the smallest retail consumer co operative in scotland by number of shops . along with the much larger scotmid lothian borders & angus and the co operative group the movement had five such co operatives in scotland . m & f co op and clydebank co operative society were the only two that had not merged into a regional or national co operative by that time . in 1993 m & f co op s president george cunningham who petitioned the court of session for the 2005 interdict that delayed demutualization was president of the co operative congress considered the highest honour in the british co operative movement . 23 24 the co operative group owns and operates a pharmacy in musselburgh high street and an alldays convenience store in clayknowes road that are not affiliated with m & f co op. 25 26 references edit co op online share book search . retrieved 2008 05 17 . shock as musselburgh co op bids to demutualise . co operative news . 2005 10 11 . retrieved 2008 05 13 . members of the 143 year old musselburgh & fisherrow co op in east lothian have voted to demutualise the society and turn it into a limited company . a b mutuals public register musselburgh & fisherrow co operative society limited number 32rs . fsa . retrieved 2008 06 21 . a b c d musselburgh co op in crisis as privatisation bid fails . co operative news . 2005 11 01 . retrieved 2008 05 13 . the issue of musselburgh & fisherrow s disappearing membership apparently down from 15 375 in 1997 to 1 080 now . according to the petition a circular sent to members in july said that a cash payment of 500 plus five times share value would be payable to those who supported conversion . going it alone . the grocer via enotes.com . 2007 06 02 . retrieved 2008 05 13 . dead link a b co op breaks with tradition . edinburgh evening news via scotsman.com . 2007 05 26 . retrieved 2008 05 13 . in the uk co operative members are sometimes known as shareholders . their share accounts can not be traded and only grow in value by a small fixed amount of compound interest if any . a b musselburgh & fisherrow co op privatisation halted by court . co operative news . 2005 10 18 . retrieved 2008 05 13 . fsa inspectors report criticises m & f co op . co operative news . 2006 03 03 . retrieved 2008 05 13 . a damaging catalogue of poor governance ineffective democratic procedures and member apathy at musselburgh and fisherrow co op has been revealed company number sc331614 m & f scotland limited . companies house webcheck . retrieved 2008 05 13 . co ops uk rap for former m & f co op . co operative news . manchester 7 . 2007 10 30 . m & f co operative food . internet archive wayback machine . archived from the original on 2006 10 05 . m & f co operative non food . internet archive wayback machine . archived from the original on 2006 10 05 . non food store musselburgh . co op online . the co operative group . retrieved 2008 06 23 . dead link musselburgh & fisherrow funeral services . internet archive wayback machine . archived from the original on 2005 12 17 . lochend road funeral branch musselburgh . co op online . the co operative group . retrieved 2008 06 23 . dead link eskbank road funeral branch musselburgh . co op online . the co operative group . retrieved 2008 06 23 . dead link splash the cash for pool repairs . edinburgh evening news via scotsman.com . 2006 03 09 . retrieved 2008 05 13 . the quayside musselburgh . co op online . the co operative group . retrieved 2008 06 23 . dead link the quayside . internet archive wayback machine . archived from the original on 2006 09 13 . gill gives new life to musselburgh complex . edinburgh evening news via scotsman.com . 2007 09 06 . retrieved 2008 05 13 . m & f co operative property investment . internet archive wayback machine . archived from the original on 2006 10 05 . congress presidents 1869 2002 pdf . february 2002 . retrieved 2008 06 13 . alan middleton . february 2007 . archived from the original scholar search on april 6 2005 . retrieved 2008 06 13 . pharmacy musselburgh . co op online . the co operative group . retrieved 2008 06 23 . dead link alldays musselburgh . co op online . the co operative group . retrieved 2008 06 23 . dead link external links edit http www.mfco op.co.uk official website at the wayback machine retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title musselburgh and fisherrow co operative society & oldid 738780649 categories consumers co operatives of the united kingdomcompanies of scotlandfuneral directors in the united kingdomeast lothiandemutualized organizationsformer co operatives of the united kingdommusselburgh1862 establishments in scotlandorganizations established in 1862co operatives in scotlandhidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from september 2010articles with dead external links from november 2010articles with wayback machine links navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 11 september 2016 at 01 10 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view