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[Archived] Rovers STILL not sold.

Wolverine

By Wolverine
in Football Messageboard Archive

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philipl World Cup

philipl

Posted
Posted

This isn't adding anything new but I accept there are new members who have been drawn to the board who might find things complicated.

This is a contested take over.

Saurin Shah made his interest known back in May and is apparently leading a consortium. It appears their wealth is in the tens of millions.

Syed Ali's company Western Gulf Associates entered into due diligence five weeks ago and whatever form of exclusivity he was granted then was extended for an unspecified period of time last week. It appears his wealth is in the thousands of millions and at least a billion of that is in cash.

There is another bidder who appears well advanced whose identity has only been speculated at but it appears the wealth of this bidder is in the thousand millions bracket.

Those appear to be the main contestants currently.

In addition, four weeks ago the News of the World said an Australian consortium of three had bid £25m. Nothing has been heard since.

Four weeks ago, Nicko in the People reported another Indian billionaire was bidding. Nothing has been heard since but I believe this one is out of the running.

So add those two newspaper bidders and there are/were five.

At least one other party has expressed interest since so that makes six and counting.

To complicate matters there were the Goldberg allegations about Ali Syed on BBC 5live. I now think these are irrelevant for a number of reasons. There has been enough time for these to have been looked into and WGA would not have been granted an extension if they were a show stopper.

The other canard which will have been resolved is whether the bidders rightfully have the money they say they have. Rothschilds who are advising the Walker Trust rank as number 2 in London and number 9 in New York by value of corporate mergers and acquisitions- they know how to check on the bona fides of potential bidders.

I must stress that the fact the bidders have the money now does not guarrantee they will spend it on Rovers in the way they say they will. That is down to the skill of the Trust negotiators and their lawyers and if nothing else is a very good reason for taking things slowly and steadily to get that right for the club. All the leverage over the bidders exists now. There is little that can be done once the contract of sale is signed.

The selling party is the Walker Trust. The best way of thinking about this is the selling party is actually Jack Walker- the Rovers were Jack's passion and he provided accordingly in life as in death. The numbers such as they are in his documents are 1999 and a1999 perspective. That perspective did not include the Premier League behemoth growing 400% in a decade so the Trust has some very tricky issues to deal with.

That is the snap shot today.

Negotiations are happening in private as they should. With three front runners, the situation is complicated. They are not only second guessing the Trust and it's advisors but also each other. So to the extent we see anything, it is a tiny fraction and we might be seeing the occasional bluff designed to confuse the competition.

And of course some posters on this MB have taken it upon themselves to drive Kamy100, the most reliable sourse of information, away from the board.

Having three serious Bidders means time scales are lengthened. The Trust has to look for the best deal for the Rovers so they will talk to anybody who has been screened in as serious.

The timeframe could be measured in weeks to a conclusion now but of course one of the bidders could win with a single phone call at any time. This is the nature of selling companies.

Nothing significantly different from this other than three very professional teams have had another very intensive week working on the details and their propositions.

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Tim Southampton Rover

Tim Southampton Rover

Posted
Posted

Spot on!

The truth is no poster on this meesageboard has a clue about the specific mechanics of the proposed Syed takeover deal.

So many people have said this is going to happen or that is going to happen and then change their mind as soon as something completely different happens.

Obviously if Syed has asked for an extension then obviously something is happening behind the scenes but unless we're involved with that, which I doubt anyone on here is, then we will all just have to wait until they release some information via the media.

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nicko World Cup

nicko

Posted
Posted

I am trying to stay away from this topic because of some of the rather unpleasant angles to this...the elephant in the room that everyone seems to ignore.

However a couple of things...

Syed did not ask for an extension. The club allowed an extension. That is because a whole lot of questions have yet to be answered.

There is no doubt Syed wants to do a deal but a lot of things will have to be fully explained before that happens. Not just to Rovers but before the Premier League get to ask the same ones.

Shah may still have an interest, but he will also have to prove where his new-found wealth is from.

As for the other bidders, they seem to come and go like the early-morning dew.

Lots happening? Yes. Anything likely to reach a conclusion and an actual takeover? I have my doubts.

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Amo World Cup

Amo

Posted
Posted

I must admit that this all seems to be taken too long.

The Indian bids are starting to seem as credible and organised as the Commonwealth Games...

Agreed. Did Man. City & Chelsea have to wait this long? Don't forget this is supposedly backed by Syed's personal fortune, so the money shouldn't be tied up elsewhere. I'm almost, almost, resigned to there being no takeover in the foreseeable.

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Wing Wizard Windy Miller World Cup

Wing Wizard Windy Miller

Posted
Posted

Agreed. Did Man. City & Chelsea have to wait this long? Don't forget this is supposedly backed by Syed's personal fortune, so the money shouldn't be tied up elsewhere. I'm almost, almost, resigned to there being no takeover in the foreseeable.

Didn't the club/Allardyce basically say during the transfer window that any deal would not be completed until the end of September. Perhaps if there's no sign of a deal by Friday it's an indication that any deals have gone off the rails?

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John World Cup

John

Posted
Posted

With all his comments in the media recently, Sam has not mentioned anything on the takeover, since his "its looking doubtful" comments a couple of weeks back. He even said then, he is not privy to information on the takeover - therefore we can discuss speculation of course, but unlikely to hear any official comment until something is actually completed....

Presume someone has to ask him the question in a press conference etc, however, wonder if JW told Sam to refrain commenting on it if possible.

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