There is a detailed report in the Middle East’s “National” publication which says that Amanda Staveley has submitted her second offer for Newcastle United but it still below £300M.
However, the consortium led by Amanda Staveley is now willing to pay the full amount up front and not in installments which was part of the initial offer.
Mike Ashley has still to officially respond to Amanda’s latest offer, and both parties are reported to be in discussions, and Mike Ashley himself is now actively involved in those negotiations.
That means this is getting serious.
This is some of the National report:
“Dubai financier Amanda Staveley’s second offer to buy Newcastle United is at an amount below £300 million but crucially she is willing to pay this amount in one lump sum rather than in installments, a source close to negotiations said.”
“When announcing his intention to sell last month, Mr. Ashley had signaled he would accept payment in installments and was said to be seeking between £350M and £400M.”
“The Daily Mail said on Tuesday (today) that Mr. Ashley was furious over media reports suggesting that the offered figure was in the region of £300M, insisting it is “way lower than that”.”
“However, the figure is “not much lower” than £300m, a source close to the negotiations told The National on Tuesday, and the one-off payment would allow Mr. Ashley to walk away free and clear immediately.”
“The investors behind the deal include both Gulf and Chinese parties.” “Law firm Dentons is representing Mr. Ashley, however, he is understood to be very much in charge of the negotiations from his side,”
“PCP Capital Partners declined to comment while no one at Newcastle could be reached.”
It’s getting serious now with Mike Ashley fully involved and the amount he has put into Newcastle over the years is said to be £267M, so if he accepts the second offer, he would make a profit of around £30M.
There could possibly be an agreement on a sale this week – but that seems unlikely with all the haggling going on about an initial price.
But let’s hope so – and the Mike Ashley era could soon be over at Newcastle.
After an agreement in principle is reached there still needs to be more weeks of due diligence to be carried out.
And then the Premier League’s own tests to decide if Ms. Staveley, who would be the Principal Owner of the club – is a fit and proper person to run Newcastle United.
Comments welcome.
21 comments so far
G
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:02 PM
Comment #1Well, if this is genuine, and MA’s reign is nearly over, lets hope its not like the Venskys take over at Blackburn.
jane
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:05 PM
Comment #2““The investors behind the deal include both Gulf and Chinese parties.””
not one of the world’s richest people who was happy to lose money and make us into a super club then.
jane
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:07 PM
Comment #3not if they are scratching around for a few extra million by the sounds of it.
jane
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:11 PM
Comment #4not only is PCP having to negotiate with Mikey they may also have to go back and persuade their investors to cough up some more money.
jane
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:12 PM
Comment #5someone said yesterday the new owner couldn’t be any worse than Ashley but oh yes it is possible!
Benton Toon Exile
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:13 PM
Comment #6No one knows who PCP are fronting until a deal is done, but they are obviously negotiation stances on both sides that are a bit unsavory, until they come to a mutual point and Ashley can walk away without a loss which my guess is around £280m…
jane
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:14 PM
Comment #7not saying it will be worse just we shouldn’t blindly think it will be better
jane
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:15 PM
Comment #8hope for the best
G
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:17 PM
Comment #9As much as I would love somebody to come in and act like the Mansurs at Citeh, which is surprisingly a club with balanced books, I don’t think it’s that likely. Would love to be proved wrong there though.
The next Mike Williamson
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:18 PM
Comment #10I’m not suggesting that they’ve been lucky punts at all. My comment was there hasn’t been anything to take a punt on as far as I’m aware. A while back it was announced PCP were doing due diligence and Ashley wanted 380m, then there was the rumour of four bidders, now it’s announced PCP have bid 300m which is what you’d expect. Has anything else happened that someone would be able to predict? Has the details of the bidders been announced, or which of the two likely areas they come from, or how much will be spent? I must have missed something. I enjoy a bit of inside knowledge as much as the next man, even though you know it’s not always likely to be true, it’s still worth reading. I was just commenting that it seems weird to praise someone when nothing seems to have been confirmed.
Maybe Shirebrook shared those few shreds of knowledge with us before the papers did, in which case, good on him. Many people have sources and I have no reason to doubt he’s one of those people.
Ron Knee
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:18 PM
Comment #11“… not if they are scratching around for a few extra million by the sounds of it.”
So you think they’d open negotiations with their highest offer?
Christopher Asprilla
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:22 PM
Comment #12Well the Nacional is owned by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and has been absolutely spot on with everything reported so far. The simple fact is that with the ongoing HMRC investigation looking like it could cost into the tens of millions in fines and the fact Rafa will definitely walk probably before the end of the season if the parties cannot agree this makes the price the biggest and best ever possible price Ashley will ever be offered. It’s Arab businessmen for crying out loud it doesn’t get much bigger. If an agreement is made we’re in dreamland but if it’s not there’ll be total mutiny from fans and Ashley would end up selling us for peanuts after relegation. It’s NOW or NEVER Geordies and this has to be NOW . I dread to think what will happen if it’s not. HWTL!
Ginger Pirlo
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:22 PM
Comment #13Great news if it’s true and Ashley is finally gone. I was too young to remember when he first came. Hopefully by Saturday we will have new owners and can have a flag up giving the finger to Ashley and the thumbs up too Stavely ?
martoon
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:34 PM
Comment #14Call me sceptical but I could have written that article based on we’ve heard.
“The investors behind the deal include both Gulf and Chinese parties.” – No sh*t Sherlock we know PCP is fronting investors from Middle East and/or China!
lesh
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:37 PM
Comment #15I read somewhere today that PCP Capital Partner’ legal advice is coming from Freshfields. Wasn’t Freshfields the firm that Chris Mort was seconded from and if so, I wonder if he’s got any input into these negotiations? I suspect not as there may be a perceived conflict of interest.
The Next Mike Williamson
Seems hell bent on arguing. There’s not to argue about as far as the insights off the three musketeers are concerned. The insights they’ve provided would’ve been provided by third parties and may not be shown to be 100% accurate in the fullness of time Have you ever heard of Chinese Whispers and how a message generally gets distorted as it travels down a chain?
As far as I and most posters are concerned, those lads posted what they did in good faith and it’s been shown to be not too far off the mark so far.
So if you want to vent your frustrations with life, why not find a brick wall to argue with instead of trying it on here.
Slank
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:43 PM
Comment #16Jane,
‘…not saying it will be worse just we shouldn’t blindly think it will be bette…’
If it’s a consortium it’s not good news. Much prefer a single individual (e.g. abramovich) or a sovereign state (e.g. Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi) as the buck stops with them. That would be clear for the fans and the club management.
But a consortium of individuals especially if they are ethnically different can be a source of disagreement and falling out. If each individual has bought their share of the club then they can sell their share when they are fed up or/and don’t want to cough up anymore money and the club then becomes a product to be traded.
Let’s hope it doesn’t happen. I guess we wait and see and hope the Chinese proverbs about wishing things don’t come to pass.
Slank
Nov 21, 2017 at 3:48 PM
Comment #17I’m currently in the Emirates lounge at an airport and will be in Dubai later today and will see what the local press is saying.
ZIPPIE57
Nov 21, 2017 at 8:00 PM
Comment #18FFS will you all get a grip !!! there are negative comments all ready about the potential take over etc, Jane what colour is the sun on your planet ?
We are all playing second guess and catch up to the lazy media when they need to fill column inches
until and i repeat until any deal is ratified / made public get behind the team and stop posting $hit that we all know nothing about.
PS I want Ashley out as much as the next season ticket holder who puts there money where there mouth is BUT without his investment and cash input we would be below Gateshead now long gone into administration
Be careful what you wish for
true toon
Nov 21, 2017 at 8:33 PM
Comment #19The new owner of the club will be Mr li ka shing with net worth of 33 billion.
posada
Nov 21, 2017 at 10:28 PM
Comment #20Jail
At 48 on the previous post.
You pose the question is someone pulling our plonker.
I suggested as much a few days ago and you went off it.
On the subject of balls and dicks.
When the financial crisis hit in 2008 Mike Ashley claimed to have balls of steel.
Is he still a tough negotiator. I would think so.
posada
Nov 21, 2017 at 10:30 PM
Comment #21True toon.
Come on what do you know.