With more twists than a snake slalom, the boardroom battle for West Ham United has taken a new turn this evening after Daniel Kretinsky’s move to block Amanda Staveley’s bid for the Gold family shares earlier today.
Kretinsky countered with a proposal as we covered, to divest two per cent of his own shares which, counter intuitively but in line with the share agreement with Sullivan and Gold, would allow him to use his pre-emption right to hoover up the whole Gold shareholding and deny the Staveley consortium the chance of buying into the club.
For those who thought the battle was over, it has only just begun.
According to Henry Winter, the journalist behind the Football Boardroom podcast, the gloves are off and Staveley is clearly not messing about:
“Amanda Staveley’s firm PCP made the same offer to Sullivan as the made to the Gold family – to buy his entire stake at a share valuation of £600 m for 100%, as well as the full 25.1 Gold stake which btw is a cheque for £150m to them, @footyboardroom understands.”
Which is a new level for Kretinsky to respond: Clearly Staveley is offering ‘Premier League’ money for the club – which David Sullivan was quoted as saying he wanted for his own shares, just last week.
Which also begs the question as to whether there’s a bid in – which we don’t know about – for Tripp Smith’s ten percent shareholding too.
Fascinating times. Hostile takeover indeed. Repercussions galore for far cleverer people than I to ponder over tonight and respond tomorrow!