Notwithstanding yesterday’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea, West Ham remains cash strapped and relegation threatened. Nevertheless, two alternative bids have been made by David Gold and David Sullivan, the former owners of Birmingham City. Gold and Sullivan submitted their formal bid to Rothschild and Standard Bank which has been appointed to handle any offers on behalf of owners CB Holdings. This is the company made up of the Icelandic bank Straumur and other creditors of Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, the former owner of the Hammers.
Notwithstanding yesterday’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea, West Ham remains cash strapped and relegation threatened. Nevertheless, two alternative bids have been made by David Gold and David Sullivan, the former owners of Birmingham City. Gold and Sullivan submitted their formal bid to Rothschild and Standard Bank which has been appointed to handle any offers on behalf of owners CB Holdings. This is the company made up of the Icelandic bank Straumur and other creditors of Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, the former owner of the Hammers. However, it is understood that Straumur will reject the bid in the belief that they are about to be given some much-needed breathing space by their own creditors in Iceland. One of the offers made by Gold and Sullivan was for a full-time buyout valued at £50m and the other for a 50 per cent stake in the club. However, CB Holdings values the club at £120m and with debts of approximately £40m are hoping for an offer of around £80m.
There remains potential interest from Intermarket Group, a London-based investment group and Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian founder of Air Asia, but that has yet to materialise into a serious offer. Straumur is understood to have injected £5m into West Ham last month in order to ease some of the financial strain on the club, but they are not in a position to offer funds to strengthen the squad when the transfer window opens. Indeed, there have been fears of a fire sale of players like Carlton Cole. The immediate cash flow position is stable, however, as £7m in broadcast revenue is due to arrive from the Premiership at the beginning of next month.
David Gold’s Rolls was recently seen at The Valley and Plan B is to buy Charlton Athletic. However, some think that the interest in Charlton is being used to increase leverage on West Ham by demonstrating that there is an alternative. Charlton’s latest accounts suggest that the South-East London club is on the brink of insolvency. A £7m cash injection by the directors should provide enough funds for the rest of the season, but if the Addicks are not promoted or acquired, it is more than likely that they will go into administration. My guess is that Gold and Sullivan will eventually get West Ham for something between their offer of £50m and the £80m the owners expect. My best guess would be £70m. So it may be a happy new year for West Ham fans after all.
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