The News Of The World (NOTW) are reporting that Newcastle are talking to Asian businessmen about a possible takeover of Newcastle United.
 Mike Ashley – talking to Asian businessmen regarding investment?
It’s the News Of The World and it will sell a lot more papers by reporting it’s a takeover, but only recently Mike said he didn’t want to sell the club and that he was looking for investment partners.
So we think he may well be talking to the parties concerned in the story, but about investing in the club – which would be a win-win for everybody we think, because it’s obvious we need more money to invest in the playing side, at least.
The report, which we want to look at calmly, and pierce through all the sensationalism – says Mike is in talks with Anil Ambani, the sixth richest man in the world and head of Reliance Communications, India’s biggest telecoms company.
It also appears that Singapore-based global investment company Profitable Group — who have former England player Steve McMahon as a Director — are also want to buy Ashley out, according to their report.
The Newcastle chief admitted last month he is anxious to find investors to ease the financial burden at Newcastle, and this is what he actually said:
“That (the rumour of a sale) is not true.â€
Ashley did admit at the time that he is seeking additional investors in the club and added:
“I would say that I am keen to have partners in Newcastle. That’s a very expensive seat I sit in.â€
On the recent news at that time, which was the Saudi Binladen Group (SBG), Ashley continued:
“I think I’ll start with people from Newcastle, not in some cave in Afghanistan.â€
So we expected these stories to keep coming up because it’s clear he’s looking for investment in Newcastle.
The NOTW reports that both Reliance and Profitable are ready to pay £260M to own Newcastle United outright, and are said to be ready to spend more than £100M on transfers to bolster the team, which of course is again managed by Kevin Keegan.
Billionaire Ashley bought Newcastle in July, 2007 for £130M and immediately wiped out £80M of debts, and is currently trying to get a financial handle on the wages, which are said to near 75% of total revenues – far too high.
However, it’s true Mike has not been willing to spend anywhere near the level of money most Newcastle fans had hoped and expected he would.
Ambani, India’s second richest man. has a personal fortune which stands at around £21B, while his RCom company is valued at £22.5B.
And Profitable Group have also made it clear they are willing to spend big.
We think these are two groups that certainly have a lot of cash, and want to invest in a football team, and we assume that the story is that Mike is in some way looking for them to buy a portion (<50%) of the club.
If that’s the case, that’s good news, since we’ll then have more money, and potentially a lot more money to invest in new players.
But we would take Mike at his word when he says he doesn’t want to sell the club.
What Mike seems to be doing is to solve the big problem the club seems to have right now, which is not enough money – for one reason or another – to invest in new players.
We’ll see what happens but we expect a statement from Newcastle shortly, at least to say the sale of the club will not happen.
But whatever way you look at this, it’s got to be good news for Newcastle fans, because it shows massive interest in our club, which must be looked on admiringly in the financial community, because of its massive fan support around the world, and sold-out home games of more than 52,000.
And don’t forget the fanatical buzz at St.James’ Park is now seen and experienced all around the world, as most of their games (Newcastle) are televised live in most countries of the world, and the Premier League is massively (and that’s an understatement) popular.
Whichever way you look at it, it could mean more money into the coffers for new players at the club, and £50M from either of these companies would be nice as an investment for new players – thank you very much.
Comments welcome.
225 comments so far
toonoholic
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:02 PM
Comment #201toom 1978, GG7 , i am an indian too ,and if u ask me , i am not at all pleased to see us linked with anil.
yet_another_indian_toon
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:07 PM
Comment #202My views, might be a summation/repetition of what most people have said above. (That means I haven’t read whats written above, as there are too many comments, my humble apologies)
If the news is true, though I suspect it’s just loose talk in the grapevine, it should be very good for club.
Anil Ambani is a shrewd businessman. The only reason he will get into the EPL, when its well known that running successful clubs involves lots of continued investments and lacks a clear and well-defined revenue stream/guarantee of returns, are:
1. He has some businesses in the UK: He will seek to leverage the two to get max mileage – dont know what businesses the ADA group has in the UK. Counterpoint: Why not go to a club that has a larger fan following worldwide? Why not Pool, which has a owner who will be more than happy to sell at the right $$? Pool are better known in India than NewU, they have also been more successful in the recent past….
2. Profit: Difficult, the reasons I have mentioned above. The group wants to get into the IPL, the real cash cow in India. Might be a half sozzled analyst drew up similarities between the two, and said, “Hey, the EPL is better, it gives a better ROI!”
3. Sibling rivalry: Has his brother, Mukesh, the RIL group, any stake in any football club? The 2 brothers have been at loggerheads for quite sometime, and seem only too eager to scupper each other’s business opportunities.
If this news is true, you will have
1. lots of money!
2. 2 Dirty two-faced corrupt criminal politicians from UP adorning the director’s box at SJP (chiefly one pahelwan(wrestler, 60+ years), and one loudmouth with no hair and moon-rimmed spectacles).
3. Bachchan family (Amitabh, Jaya, Abhishek, Aishwarya!) at SJP! and many other Bollywood stars (dont expect SRK, Aamir Khan). That should give the toon a sprinkle of tasty Indian spices and colour…
4. His brother Mukesh throwing a spanner in the works (unless his business analysts convince him that ADA is headed for doom by investing the the “graveyard of reputations”)
5. Real Indian curry, not the fakes the UK restaurants serve its patrons.
Why this news won’t be true:
1. ADA’s operation in India. How is he going to tie up NewU and India? Currently, in India, its NewWho? actually, you can say the same abt manyoo, ars and chelski as well. Have visited several sports shops over here searching for any toon replica shirt… All I see is Manure, Arsenal, Pool and Chelski.
2. He will rather invest in the IPL than the EPL. Its cricket all the way here. Only a small fraction of urban india watches football, mainly the single working man from the IT industry : age
yet_another_indian_toon
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Comment #203And to Ed, I have work-ex in optimizing db performance (mysql) . I might know what to do if you are able to send me your db schema, queries, and any other metrics you have on db throughput.
Gareth
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Comment #204I have a sneaking suspicion that there had already been talks when Ashley was talking about finding partners and about how he liked the QPR model. I’d like Ashley to stay because I reckon he gets undue criticism, but some mega-rich partners certainly wouldn’t go amiss…
yet_another_indian_toon
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Comment #205was reading the prev comments,
1. ashley surely bit off more than he could chew. Looks difficult that he will stay for long, and if we does, the barren spell might just continue.
2. If no success, expectations drop, gate drops, profits drop, performances will further drop. the negative cycle will continue, and will be tough to break out of it. Look at it, each year we have finished worse off than the last season…
3. negativity build – as its building here. Soon, the terraces will be chanting for the board to quit & for ashley’s head…
yet_another_indian_toon
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:18 PM
Comment #206And, all news sources posted above point out to English newspaper/English source. Nothing from here.
The most recent takeover the ADA group was involved in was all over the front pages on all papers : the RComm-MTN (failed) deal.
Toon1978
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:18 PM
Comment #207toonoholic why are you not pleased with us being linked with Anil?
Geordie SPIDERMAN18 (GG7)
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:35 PM
Comment #208why are you not pleased mate? i have a couple of indian mates near me, they seem to think it will be great for newcastle and bad for every other club? he is not like thaksin shinawatra is he?
yet_another_indian_toon
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:38 PM
Comment #209Dont compare with Thaksin, he is way better than him.
Shrewd, Patient, Proper businessman who has seen business being built from scratch. Not implicated in any corruption case, a respected businessman in india. Definitely not a Thaksin clone.
yet_another_indian_toon
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:41 PM
Comment #210and am very confident that Anil Ambani will not sack KK, he will back KK fully. He is a ruthless businessman, but only his rivals face the wrath.
Geordie SPIDERMAN18 (GG7)
Aug 3, 2008 at 8:45 PM
Comment #211that is brilliant then, has there been any news there today that u have heard than mate?
yet_another_indian_toon
Aug 3, 2008 at 9:04 PM
Comment #212Speculation, not news. Speculation from the English press only, this place is dead silent (today). Will update after reading tomorrow’s newspaper (due in 6 hrs time.)
Sleep tight till then, and don’t speculate about speculation.
Geordie SPIDERMAN18 (GG7)
Aug 3, 2008 at 9:06 PM
Comment #213its big ralk on setanta and we are refusing to comment, sleep tite
toonoholic
Aug 3, 2008 at 9:25 PM
Comment #214“Proper businessman who has seen business being built from scratch.”
He inherited wealth from his dad . and most of his wealth are invested in stocks , so no liquid cash and keeps fluctuating with the indian stock market .
yet_another_indian_toon
Aug 3, 2008 at 9:33 PM
Comment #215he has a lot of cash. all his holdings have a lot of cash,.
Anil Ambani wont invest in NUFC. His group, through one of their subsidiaries might take it up.
His companies are filthily rich, the 2 brothers contribute to over 5% of the Indian GDP. Forgot the Reliance Power IPO, mate? One of the largest IPO’s in the world, with people tripping over each other to get a slice of it. Oversubscribed by 11 times in the opening minute of the IPO launch itself. They aren’t short of money, and they can raise capital whenever they want to.
ToonLoon
Aug 3, 2008 at 11:53 PM
Comment #216WHY DEBT?
All along i have been thinking about the undiscovered debt Ashley had to pay. Now I find out he did not perform due diligence–get the pointy-heads to look at the books b4 he buys. If this is true- he knows nowt. And now he boasts about paying the debt. Fool.
Dondatta13
Aug 4, 2008 at 1:44 AM
Comment #217Toon Loon, well said matie, cant believe Ashley would buy a football club for that amount and not carry out due diligence! If he did then he cant really complain he got stung for the debt
Going on what the press are saying, these rumours do appear to be true and things could start moving quickly as I read in this article that Rcom would like discussions to advance WITHIN THE NEXT 10 DAYS!
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sport/football/article-1041247/Indians-want-quick-Newcastle-deal-consider-clubs.html?ITO=1490
And theres me thinking nowt will happen until January lol, fingers crossed that this a) is true and b) it happens ASAP!
toonoholic
Aug 4, 2008 at 6:19 AM
Comment #218the times of India statesthat ADAG (one of the company owned by anil) such a move has been made.
Another local newspaper states that anil wont pay a penny up more than 260 mn.
so its likely not going to happen.
neeraj
Aug 4, 2008 at 6:57 AM
Comment #219toonoholic
which newspaper
toonoholic
Aug 4, 2008 at 7:26 AM
Comment #220mumbai mirror
Ian
Aug 4, 2008 at 8:09 AM
Comment #221Funny it is always £100m to spend on players isnt it???
I hope this family like football and that is their reason, however I doubt it, if not, I hope they intend once current sponsorship runs out, to use it as a promotional launch for their business expansion in Europe, that means we would have to get there!!!!
We all live in hope.
As long as the new owner, if they arrive, have an interest in Newcastle doing well as a football team then that is all that matters.
I like the idea of a deadline of this weekend if it is true, that gives Keegan time to grab another couple of signings.
Pete M
Aug 4, 2008 at 8:22 AM
Comment #222I’d be expecting a strong statement of rejection over this but i’d love it to be true
Ian
Aug 4, 2008 at 1:13 PM
Comment #223Im sticking with the fantasy, it is better than the truth, this is an awful Summer.
chuck
Aug 5, 2008 at 12:56 AM
Comment #224Its been admitted by Ashley he would`nt be adverse to taking on additional investers, as long as he remained the major partner(its an ego thing, alpha male stuff) think I got that right.
strangely enough it seems to work at QPR with both Ecclestone and Mittal as major investers,also both Spurs and Arsenal have some heavy hitters on the board, so its not an impossibility.
Must be a trip at board meetings with all those alpha males in one room deciding the best way to proceed.
But from what I read looks like Ambani wants to be “The Man”.
Its a dog eat dog world and a puppy dont stand a chance.
Just like Ashley blew Freddy away this guy is big enough to blow Ashley away.
Would love to be on the inside of this one.
ONEPETERB
Aug 5, 2008 at 4:22 PM
Comment #225Except that there are no shares to buy therefore power can only be transferred by consensus By the way it appears that new rumours are suggesting that altho’ Respons isn’t interested Ambani may be