QPR Board Resigns Before Potential Briatore Takeover
21/08/2007 |
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The Queens Park Rangers soccer club board resigned today before a potential takeover by Flavio Briatore, who led the Benetton and Renault teams to Formula One titles.
Briatore lodged a 22 million-pound ($44 million) bid for the west London team, the Sun said Aug. 17, citing team Chairman Gianni Paladini. The 57-year-old Briatore has agreed to pay the club's 17 million-pound debt, saving it from bankruptcy, and to invest 100 million pounds over three years, the paper said.
The investment ``will save QPR from the perilous financial position we have found ourselves in over the past years and should put the club in an excellent position to move forward,'' outgoing board members of QPR's holding company Nick De Marco, James Ferrary and Kevin Steele said on the club's Web site.
QPR has suffered financially since finishing fifth in the Premiership in 1993. It was demoted three years later and entered creditor protection in 2001, when it dropped to the third tier. The club emerged from administration the next year and returned to the Championship in 2004.
A deal between the club, Briatore and a group of his associates isn't certain to be completed, a spokesman for Briatore said in a phone interview. He won't quit the Renault Formula One team, the spokesman said.
A QPR spokesman said the club had no further comment.
Premiership's Allure
Foreign investors have bought Premiership clubs Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, Manchester City, Sunderland and West Ham since Russia's Roman Abramovich took over at Chelsea in 2003. In all, nine top-flight teams are controlled by non-British citizens, while Arsenal is the subject of speculation after U.S. investor Stan Kroenke bought a 12 percent stake.
A takeover by Briatore may provide QPR manager John Gregory with money to sign players during the January transfer window, boosting the team's bid to gain promotion back to the world's richest league.
``We're certain the new investors and the new board will get behind John Gregory and give him the support he needs,'' the outgoing directors said. Paladini will stay on as football club chairman, the statement said.
QPR is 20th in the 24-team Championship, two places below its finishing position last season, with one point from two games.
(Source: Bloomberg.com)
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