Various: Mike Ashley in talks with Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan

[HaydnNUFC]

https://www.ft.com/content/24e3ce3c-d119-11e7-b781-794ce08b24dc

 

Financier Amanda Staveley back on deal scene with Newcastle bid

 

It is a headline-writer’s dream: a former girlfriend of Prince Andrew is bidding for an underdog Premier League football club owned by one of the UK’s most vilified tycoons.

 

Whether Amanda Staveley’s attempt to take over Newcastle United Football Club will fulfil fans’ hopes of a sale by Christmas — or even by the close of the transfer window in late January — is looking less certain.

 

The former model-turned-financier has tabled two bids for the club. The most recent, 10 days ago, was around £250m; below the £300m-£400m sought by Mike Ashley, the club’s billionaire owner and founder of UK retailer, Sports Direct.

 

PCP Capital, the firm founded by Ms Staveley that made the bid, still lacks exclusivity in the auction Mr Ashley announced on Sky Sports last month. But no other bids have been forthcoming.

 

If successful, PCP’s deal would be the latest in a series of recent takeovers at the top of English football, after acquisitions of Southampton, West Bromwich Albion, Everton and Swansea City. Each of these has valued Premier League clubs in the hundreds of millions of pounds.

 

Investors have been drawn by a £5.1bn domestic broadcasting deal the 20 top flight clubs have with Sky and BT that came into effect last season, as well as £3bn from overseas television contracts.

 

“The obvious reason [for these deals] is the growth in broadcast,” says Ben Marlow, an executive at 21st Club, a football consultancy. “The last [domestic broadcasting deal] was a watershed moment, because it made football in Premier League profitable, when previously it was a mug’s game.”

 

The Premier League is set to tender for the next set of UK broadcasting rights this year, with values expected to rise again.

 

Ms Staveley is best known for two deals, both involving Abu Dhabi royalty: she brokered the £210m sale of Manchester City Football Club to sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008. Just three months later, she arranged his £3.5bn investment in Barclays in an emergency cash call that kept the bank out of UK government control during the financial crisis.

 

NUFC is attractive because it has a staunch fan base, a large and well maintained stadium — building a new one can cost around £500m — and geographically, little competition from rivals.

 

The takeover talks bring Ms Staveley head-to-head with Mr Ashley, who has become deeply unpopular with NUFC fans during his decade-long ownership of the club.

 

Both are deemed “outsiders” by the City and have faced questions over their business styles.

 

Neither is afraid of a fight — with both making courtroom appearances over the past year.

 

Ms Staveley filed a lawsuit against Barclays for $1bn last year, alleging deceit in the 2008 cash call by offering other Qatari investors secret side-deals.

 

The bank denies her claim, and her civil lawsuit is now frozen until after the conclusion of a 2019 criminal trial that treads on similar ground. She is appealing against the decision to stay her civil trial.

 

“She is clearly a fiercely intelligent, charming woman,” concedes one City grandee. “She undoubtedly made a lot of money for herself and for Abu Dhabi from Barclays.”

 

Meanwhile Mr Ashley’s hard-charging style was laid bare by a £14m lawsuit filed by a former Merrill Lynch banker who worked on Sports Direct’s flotation. Mr Ashley was described as a “power-drinking, moneymaking machine” who vomited into a fireplace. He won the court battle.

 

NUFC has not been the sole club in Ms Staveley’s sights this year. She walked away from talks — backed by Chinese investors — for the far larger Liverpool Football Club once the price tag reached £1.5bn. LFC has always denied it was for sale.

 

Ms Staveley is an LFC supporter, and it is through the club that she first met Rafa Benitez, now the NUFC manager. She was involved in an unsuccessful attempt by Dubai to buy Liverpool in 2008.

 

Questions remain over her latest approach for NUFC, not least around the identity of investors in the PCP fund bidding for the club. While Ms Staveley has lined up investors from Dubai and Saudi Arabia, those with knowledge of the situation say much will depend on the structure of a successful bid. PCP could finance a smaller sum, or a deal via instalments, with no outside investors.

 

Mr Ashley’s allies, meanwhile, have expressed frustration that publication of selective details of Ms Staveley’s offer, which they regard as untenably low and riddled with conditionality, could raise unrealistic hopes among fans.

 

Both PCP and NUFC declined to comment.

 

People familiar with Ms Staveley’s offer suggest that PCP’s valuation of Newcastle takes into account an unresolved tax investigation, as well as the threat of relegation. This would bring a dramatic fall of revenues without access to the league’s broadcasting income.

 

Newcastle has been performing well on the pitch this season, but has twice been relegated from the Premier League during Mr Ashley’s tenure.

 

Mr Ashley’s financial ambitions are unlikely to be satisfied by a proposal that could see the price slashed unless Newcastle’s recent streak of decent performance continues.

[Robster]

Nothing encouraging there

[mrmojorisin75]

Mackems will be loving that

[Stifler]

https://www.ft.com/content/24e3ce3c-d119-11e7-b781-794ce08b24dc

 

Financier Amanda Staveley back on deal scene with Newcastle bid

 

It is a headline-writer’s dream: a former girlfriend of Prince Andrew is bidding for an underdog Premier League football club owned by one of the UK’s most vilified tycoons.

 

Whether Amanda Staveley’s attempt to take over Newcastle United Football Club will fulfil fans’ hopes of a sale by Christmas — or even by the close of the transfer window in late January — is looking less certain.

 

The former model-turned-financier has tabled two bids for the club. The most recent, 10 days ago, was around £250m; below the £300m-£400m sought by Mike Ashley, the club’s billionaire owner and founder of UK retailer, Sports Direct.

 

PCP Capital, the firm founded by Ms Staveley that made the bid, still lacks exclusivity in the auction Mr Ashley announced on Sky Sports last month. But no other bids have been forthcoming.

 

If successful, PCP’s deal would be the latest in a series of recent takeovers at the top of English football, after acquisitions of Southampton, West Bromwich Albion, Everton and Swansea City. Each of these has valued Premier League clubs in the hundreds of millions of pounds.

 

Investors have been drawn by a £5.1bn domestic broadcasting deal the 20 top flight clubs have with Sky and BT that came into effect last season, as well as £3bn from overseas television contracts.

 

“The obvious reason [for these deals] is the growth in broadcast,” says Ben Marlow, an executive at 21st Club, a football consultancy. “The last [domestic broadcasting deal] was a watershed moment, because it made football in Premier League profitable, when previously it was a mug’s game.”

 

The Premier League is set to tender for the next set of UK broadcasting rights this year, with values expected to rise again.

 

Ms Staveley is best known for two deals, both involving Abu Dhabi royalty: she brokered the £210m sale of Manchester City Football Club to sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008. Just three months later, she arranged his £3.5bn investment in Barclays in an emergency cash call that kept the bank out of UK government control during the financial crisis.

 

NUFC is attractive because it has a staunch fan base, a large and well maintained stadium — building a new one can cost around £500m — and geographically, little competition from rivals.

 

The takeover talks bring Ms Staveley head-to-head with Mr Ashley, who has become deeply unpopular with NUFC fans during his decade-long ownership of the club.

 

Both are deemed “outsiders” by the City and have faced questions over their business styles.

 

Neither is afraid of a fight — with both making courtroom appearances over the past year.

 

Ms Staveley filed a lawsuit against Barclays for $1bn last year, alleging deceit in the 2008 cash call by offering other Qatari investors secret side-deals.

 

The bank denies her claim, and her civil lawsuit is now frozen until after the conclusion of a 2019 criminal trial that treads on similar ground. She is appealing against the decision to stay her civil trial.

 

“She is clearly a fiercely intelligent, charming woman,” concedes one City grandee. “She undoubtedly made a lot of money for herself and for Abu Dhabi from Barclays.”

 

Meanwhile Mr Ashley’s hard-charging style was laid bare by a £14m lawsuit filed by a former Merrill Lynch banker who worked on Sports Direct’s flotation. Mr Ashley was described as a “power-drinking, moneymaking machine” who vomited into a fireplace. He won the court battle.

 

NUFC has not been the sole club in Ms Staveley’s sights this year. She walked away from talks — backed by Chinese investors — for the far larger Liverpool Football Club once the price tag reached £1.5bn. LFC has always denied it was for sale.

 

Ms Staveley is an LFC supporter, and it is through the club that she first met Rafa Benitez, now the NUFC manager. She was involved in an unsuccessful attempt by Dubai to buy Liverpool in 2008.

 

Questions remain over her latest approach for NUFC, not least around the identity of investors in the PCP fund bidding for the club. While Ms Staveley has lined up investors from Dubai and Saudi Arabia, those with knowledge of the situation say much will depend on the structure of a successful bid. PCP could finance a smaller sum, or a deal via instalments, with no outside investors.

 

Mr Ashley’s allies, meanwhile, have expressed frustration that publication of selective details of Ms Staveley’s offer, which they regard as untenably low and riddled with conditionality, could raise unrealistic hopes among fans.

 

Both PCP and NUFC declined to comment.

 

People familiar with Ms Staveley’s offer suggest that PCP’s valuation of Newcastle takes into account an unresolved tax investigation, as well as the threat of relegation. This would bring a dramatic fall of revenues without access to the league’s broadcasting income.

 

Newcastle has been performing well on the pitch this season, but has twice been relegated from the Premier League during Mr Ashley’s tenure.

 

Mr Ashley’s financial ambitions are unlikely to be satisfied by a proposal that could see the price slashed unless Newcastle’s recent streak of decent performance continues.

More of Nothing there. The FT does have it’s hands tied with what it can print on a Monday morning with the markets being closed for 2 days and fuck all happening. The rest of the FT will no doubt be full of articles stating the obvious increased retail sales from Black Friday.

[Dave]

Nothing encouraging there

 

Or new tbh.

[Greg]

Author clearly hasn't seen us play recently. 

[Wobblegob]

Mackems will be loving that

Bet they still dont get a wash.

[Guest chopey]

I think I'll have a takeover hot tub, then a transfer bath and top it off with a fa cup winning shower

[Stifler]

I think I'll have a takeover hot tub, then a transfer bath and top it off with a fa cup winning shower

Ah, a gloryhole shower?

[jdckelly]

the cynic in me is increasingly thinking this is just a way to get some easy publicity for her rather than actually being serious about buying the club.

[Stifler]

the cynic in me is increasingly thinking this is just a way to get some easy publicity for her rather than actually being serious about buying the club.

She is probably the most influential business person in the Middle East. She doesn’t need publicity, and a fake takeover would be more damaging to her business profile. Just because things arn’t happening as fast as some people would or hope or our desperation for a takeover has intensified it doesn’t mean her intentions arn’t honest.

[Kanji]

Ah, the most influential business person in the middle east? examples please.

[ianovthetoon]

the cynic in me is increasingly thinking this is just a way to get some easy publicity for her rather than actually being serious about buying the club.

 

If it had of been just about publicity she’d have been taking every opportunity to talk bollocks and tell us all how Messi was signing in January etc etc etc. Silence probably means something is happening.  I know it might seem like a distant 2 week memory but even the talk of a firm bid came out of the blue. I can see at least another two weeks before we hear anything else....

[mrmojorisin75]

Ah, the most influential business person in the middle east? examples please.

Yeah, not sure that'll stand up myself

[IneedAbed]

the cynic in me is increasingly thinking this is just a way to get some easy publicity for her rather than actually being serious about buying the club.

 

210 million for man city 2008 , a second bid of 250 million for nufc 2017

I hate mike Ashley but that is a shite offer

[gdm]

You can’t just look at a single figure, there is probably caveats and clauses involved. According to some press last week she offered over £300 but in instalments and Ashley wasn’t keen so then she bid lower but in a one off payment

[loki679]

Least the fat cunt knows how other clubs feel dealing with us now.

[Sho Time]

I've heard of small mercies, but that's probably one of the smallest I've heard.

[xLiaaamx]

So thats it then? Stuck with him? 

[lovejoy]

the cynic in me is increasingly thinking this is just a way to get some easy publicity for her rather than actually being serious about buying the club.

 

nah.

 

it'll have cost a fortune to get the process to this point.

 

she could have just appointed a pr firm and saved a load of money.

[lovejoy]

the cynic in me is increasingly thinking this is just a way to get some easy publicity for her rather than actually being serious about buying the club.

 

also, if that was the case I cant think of worse publicity for a deal maker like her, she wouldn't be doing a deal and would be pissing someone about, how can that benefit her in any way?

[Guest reefatoon]

Exactly. A failed attempt at buying Liverpool, then the same again here (if it was just made up). Is not great publicity like.

[Sean]

I don't think I can cope much longer without some positive news on this.

[Guest firetotheworks]

That article and particularly the £250m figure was new information for me tbh, there were a few bits in there I hadn't read before.

[steve_69]

She's put in an awful lot of work to walk away now. Plus, if she's hell bent on buying a football club as an investment, we're the most attractive option out there by a country mile.

 

What I could see happening is that if she doesn't have an offer accepted soon she'll back away and wait until the end of the season. She can then see if we're still a Premier League club or not.