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Articles on football club takeovers and related issues
Extensive due diligence has held up the completion of the takeover at Hull City by Assem and Ehan Allam. However, faced with seven days’ notice of a winding up order by Revenue and Customs, they have come to the club’s aid. £1 million has been put into an escrow account pending completion of the deal.
As expected, Milan Mandaric has agreed a deal to take over Sheffield Wednesday, paying off £7m of the £23m Co-operative Bank debt. They probably won’t want to get involved in loans to a football club again in a hurry.
Milan Mandaric claims that he is just 24 hours away from concluding a deal to acquire his latest football club, Sheffield Wednesday. He is certainly the preferred bidder as far as the major creditor, the Co-operative Bank, is concerned as although they would get less than a third of their money back, they would get it straight away and no one else seems to be able to offer that.
Former Portsmouth and Leicester City owner Milan Mandaric has re-emerged as the favourite to take over Sheffield Wednesday. An initial offer by Mandaric was rejected by the board after opposition over the terms from loan note holders such as former chairmen Dave Allen, now at Chesterfield. However, this news was not welcome at the Co-op Bank who had checked out Mandaric’s funding and were prepared to accept his offer to the bank of £8m, even though they are owed £23m.
The sale of Blackburn Rovers to an Indian company means that for the first time there are as many foreign as English owners of Barclays Premier League clubs, although the Spurs chairman, Joe Lewis, is based in the Bahamas. Venky’s, a poultry company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, completed the purchase of Blackburn Rovers for £23m, making them the first Premiership club owner from India.
The new owners of Pompey have said they hope they can get out without being hurt. Balram Chainrai and his Israeli business partner Levi Kushnir see themselves as ‘accidental’ owners and say they’ll be lucky not to lose their investment.
As Sheffield Wednesday’s court deadline approaches on Wednesday, three potential bidders are expressing some interest in the club. The position has been complicated by the revelation that, as well as the £600,000 Wednesday owe in PAYE, the tax authorities issued a second winding-up order in October over VAT arrears of £300,000. The Co-operative Bank, the main creditor, consider they should been told about this earlier than they were.
Controversial former Chester City owner Stephen Vaughan is part of a consortium bidding to buy Conference side Wrexham. Nearly a year ago Vaughan became the first owner of a professional club to fail the fit and proper person test at Chester. He was disqualified from acting as a director of any company until November 2020 following his involvement in a £500,000 VAT fraud.
The takeover of Hull City by father-and-son duo Assem and Ehab Allam has been finalised with the legal process of transfer expected to be completed by the end of the month. They are understood to be providing £10-£12m to meet due repayments. Russell Bartlett will remain a minority owner with a 20 per cent stake.
Charlton Athletic have rejected a takeover bid from a group led by Swiss-based fund manager Sebastien Sainsbury. Sainsbury, a member of the supermarket dynasty, fronted a failed attempt to buy Leeds United in 2004.
According to club sources the offer had not provided proof of funds. There were concerns that the bidders would create working capital by borrowing against The Valley and other capital assets. There were also unconfirmed allegations that one person associated with the bid did not meet the highest standards of probity.