Newcastle Holds `Constructive' Talks With Ashley on £133m Offer
01/06/2007 |
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Newcastle United said it held ``constructive'' talks with billionaire retailer Mike Ashley about his takeover offer that values the English Premiership club at 133 million pounds ($263 million).
Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct International Plc, has already acquired 41.6 percent of Newcastle and offered May 23 to buy the rest.
``There was a meeting with Mike Ashley and his team earlier today at which there was a useful and constructive discussion,'' the club said in a Regulatory News Service statement, adding that it would give its response in due course.
Ashley purchased his holding from former chairman John Hall and his family at 100 pence a share, and under London Stock Exchange rules offered to buy out the remaining holders at the same price. About 30 percent of the company belongs to Chairman Freddy Shepherd. The shares were unchanged today at 96.5 pence.
Ashley's offer came about four months after the northeast England club, which hasn't won a title in almost four decades, ended talks with the Belgravia Group after the parties failed to agree on a price. Newcastle would be the seventh top-flight English club to change ownership in the past four years, and the first to be acquired by a U.K. investor in that period.
Investors from Manchester United's Malcolm Glazer to Chelsea's Roman Abramovich are tapping into the worldwide appeal of the richest football league, which is set to share record broadcasting revenue of 2.7 billion pounds over the next three years. Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expects to take over Manchester City ``soon,'' his lawyer said today.
Rich List
Ashley's 1.9 billion-pound fortune ranked him as the U.K.'s 25th richest man, according to this year's Sunday Times Rich List. He raised 929 million pounds in February by selling 43 percent of the shares in Sports Direct, which has 465 discount stores including Lillywhites in London's Piccadilly.
His investment may help Newcastle compete better with Chelsea, which won two of the past three league titles, Premiership champion Manchester United and record 18-time winner Liverpool. Liverpool was bought this year by Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Newcastle, one of the best-supported clubs in the country with an average attendance of about 52,000, last won a major trophy in 1969, the precursor to Europe's UEFA Cup.
In the latest Premiership season, the Magpies finished 13th and ended the campaign by parting company with manager Glenn Roeder. He was replaced by former Bolton boss Sam Allardyce.
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