By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Football finance expert Stefan Borson has revealed the reason he believes there has been what amounts to a hostile takeover attempt at West Ham.
As every Hammers fan will know, following David Sullivan’s resignation as club chairman, Daniel Křetínský put in place plans to become the most powerful man at the football club by acquiring some of Vanessa Gold’s family shareholding and agreeing voting rights with other shareholders.
Unfortunately, the proposed deal between the Czech billionaire and the Gold family never materialised, and nor did the rumoured cash injection of between £90 million and £100 million which the club were desperate for, having suffered a £104 million loss in the last accounting period.
Indeed, concern over why Křetínský had failed to complete the Gold share purchase had already started to grow before Amanda Staveley re-emerged on the scene.
Vanessa Gold could now sell to Staveley
Borson points finger at Křetínský
That delay allowed Staveley to put forward proposals for her own planned takeover of West Ham and reach an agreement with Vanessa Gold to buy the entirety of the family’s shareholding.
The situation has moved quickly from the days when Staveley’s interest was still being treated as speculation, while Křetínský’s previously announced deal remained incomplete.
When Borson was asked on talkSPORT by host Jim White why it had taken so long to get the initial agreement over the line, the football finance expert very much laid the blame at Křetínský’s door.
According to Borson, the Gold family had been:
“Waiting for Kretinsky to put his money where his mouth is. And for whatever reason, it looks like he wasn’t liquid at that point to be able to buy the shares that he committed to buy or that he indicated he would buy. So the Gold family went off, found themselves another buyer.”
Ouch.
Roughly translated, Borson appears to be suggesting that whilst Křetínský is asset rich, with an estimated wealth of around €13 billion, the Czech Sphinx was struggling to lay his hands on the necessary capital to buy the 15% of the club he had agreed to take from the Gold family.
In the immediate timeframe, it’s very much a suggestion that ‘he’s skint’.
Obviously, we’re talking relatively here. I don’t expect to see Křetínský rifling through the back of his sofa for loose change anytime soon.
But it would also go some way towards explaining why there has been no significant cash injection into West Ham.
Not skint we have amassed a lot of money on sales Summerville was a large sum up front . Other sales have bought more ready funds . It needs reinvestment in quality and please pace , pace , pace. Centre back is essential and others.
You assume that the reason Kretinsky didn’t complete because he didn’t have the funds. Isn’t it more likely that Gol d delayed signing because she was contacted by Stavely.
Gonzo, I think there are several flaws to Borson’s thinking
VALUATION:
West Ham are currently valued at £450m at best, given their status as a championship club
If we get promoted, our valuation is likely to increase to around £800m
That means the valuation set by Staveley of £600m is currently over inflating the true value of the club today
It’s a massive speculation to suggest that we’re going to bounce straight back up into the premier league
But if we do then we go way above Staveley’s valuation of £600m
AFFORDABILITY:
Then we have the issue of Kretinsky potentially not having the funds to buy the 16% stake originally agreed… if that was the case, then why was Kretinsky prepared to inject around another £90/£100m into the club to boost our transfer kitty?
The only reason why that seemed to have stopped is because Kretinsky was momentarily not in control of the clubs destiny after Staveley lodged her bid to buy the Gold shares
Furthermore, the first stage of the pre emption process is still in full flow
If Kretinsky exercises his right to purchase his part of the Gold family shareholder, he will be eligible to buy 9% of the 25.1% available and he will have to pay £54m – which matches Staveley’s £600m valuation. And from what we hear, he has every intention to do that
Then that would put Kretinsky into the second stage of pre emption process.
And if he’s the only shareholder to exercise his pre emption rights then, at second stage, he may have to stump up another £96m to buy the remaining 16.1% of Gold shares.
He may, of course, decide not to go through with stage 2 and be content with the 9% he gets from stage one, which will increase his overall stake in the club to around 34.1%
But then why sell over 2% of his current shares, if he didn’t plan to buy out all the Gold shares he could lay his hands on
As we know, he had shifted just over 2% of his current stake so that after buying out all the Gold shares his overall stake didn’t exceeded over 50%
I’m no financial expert, but I understand enough about the situation to suggest that Borson’s massive assumption is a little off balance
That’s nonsense. He would easily have enough liquidity he cannot be fully invested. Plus deals can be struck that enable monies to flow to the seller in stages
Thinking aloud, could it be conceivable that the monies raised from player sales be used to purchase the Gold shares……
Fair play, you’ve been consistent and stuck to this narrative since the beginning. Fortunately, most West Ham fans are smart enough to work out themselves what happened here.
For the record ChatGPT says
Saying “it didn’t complete because Křetínský couldn’t find the money” is currently an allegation/interpretation, not an established fact. In fact, there is an obvious logical problem with it: Křetínský is now considering/exercising rights in relation to a larger and therefore more expensive block of shares. If lack of access to capital was definitely the reason he couldn’t fund the smaller transaction, somebody needs to explain convincingly how that squares with his subsequent manoeuvring around the whole Gold stake.
Borson’s actual words are: “for whatever reason, it looks like he wasn’t liquid at that point…” Those three words — “it looks like” — matter enormously.
He’s making an inference. He isn’t saying: “My sources tell me Křetínský could not fund the transaction.”
He isn’t producing financial documents. He isn’t quoting Gold.He isn’t quoting Křetínský. And he doesn’t identify a source involved in the transaction.
Yet Claret & Hugh turns that into: “‘Skint’ Křetínský Told to ‘Put His Money Where His Mouth Is’” and says it explains why no significant cash injection occurred. That’s several steps beyond the evidence.
I only wish I was as skint as he ‘apparently’ is. Who writes and believes this drivel.
Borson makes lots of claims which don’t necessarily beco e true. Also seems like a bit of a Staveley fanboy so taking what he claims with a pinch of salt.
Not sure what your issues are ??
Piroe = at Championship level, not only proven, but a star.. (see his goal contribution stats ?)
Solomon = at Championship level, not only proven, but a star.. (see his goal contribution stats ?)
The young guy from Brighton ? Is he on his way ? See his goal contribution stats from last year ?
The captain from Watford ? Is he in his way ?
See his goal contribution stats ?
What about the young lad from Liverpool.. who was at Villa on loan and got duped.
Hammers want him, but must wait until Iraola determines if he will let him go.
I can see why the incoming transfers are taking long..
I can see what they are up too.
I see no reason for complaining and whining…
The season has barely begun..
P.S.
Has Borson disclosed his affilliations to Staveley (perhaps) 😉
It’s interesting listening that he speculates … here a thing, if you were Sullivan and pushed out of your own boardroom how would protect your majority shares … we were relegated with significant losses and debt and no home … so what’s our market value … it’s certainly not the £600m Staveley was offering and once you miss the PL investment window we are in serious financial trouble … if I were DK I’d let Sullivan and Gold suffer … they made this mess, now face the music
Kretinsky is running the Royal Mail into the ground, we are next , he is not doing a good job!
Privatisation is never intended to improve the service to customers, it’s there to improve the bank balance of shareholders and board members
A bit harsh there Gonzo. Would you pump 90 – 100m pounds into a company you are not in charge of and where there´s a strong possibility you´ll end up a minority shareholder?
Utter nonsense. Common sense says he didn’t inject the cash because he didn’t formalize the initial sale of the Gold Shares. Why would he inject the cash when he doesn’t have control? As to why he didn’t buy the shares, anyone’s guess. It likely that he wanted to acquire enough to trump Sullivan but when AS came forward for the lot, he had to match which would then trigger the agreement to buy Sullivan out at the ludacris valuation, which in turn saw him sell 2% inorder to buy the full shareholding. He has a fund to make investments which would give access to liquidity, there are other factors at play – one of which is not his lack of funds. Get real.
It could also be that Amanda Staveley on behalf of her investors offered the Gold family more money for the shares and therefore they stalled the process. I understand that under the current shareholders contractual terms Kretinsky as an existing shareholder would be buying at a significant discount!
Bowen and fans stitched right up
Another in a long line of a$$holes from Brown to the biscuitbarons to Sullivan
Kretinsky is running our club like the Royal Mail !
As I said yesterday Gonzo, it is obvious that Kretinsky is the problem at the moment, whatever the reason. He is the one at the top and nothing at all is being reported on beyond the level of Nuno and Koppen. That is not how successful businesses are run. He may be doing a good job with Royal Mail etc. but West Ham is looking pretty grim. The fans are obviously desperate for some good news and indications that they are heading back to the PL, but nobody is listening to them at all. We can all do simple arithmetic, and none of it adds up at the moment. I don’t see Staveley as a long term solution, but short term she might be better than what we have.
If true, it’s a very worrying scenario. However, given Kretinsky is now seeking to buy all of the Gold shares, it doesn’t add up for me.
Whatever the truth, it’s clear no Rights Issue will take place in this transfer window and we are left to watch the significant reduction in our squad numbers with, as yet, few additions.
That said, if we keep first choice players leaving us down to Fernandes, Summerville and Disasi our first team should remain competitive but with concerns at centre half and squad depth.
Never straightforward at West Ham
Or a cynic like me might say it’s all been done on purpose. Think about it the 30 days kretinsky has to match Staveleys price will nicely coincide with the end of the transfer window.then he can blame it all on Staveley .he didn’t get his billions by spending money. Once again we were led up the garden path with lies.
Bang on Gonzo. Empty promises and zero delivery, just like the Post Office. Kretinsky has overseen one of the biggest asset strips ever (and couldn’t find £2m for Parrott) and for some reason fans want to give him more time. Just shows how bad it was under Sully I guess. Sooner Staveley or AN Other manoeuvre this guy out the better for me. He is an opportunist who could not care less about the club or the fans. Just wants to protect his own financial interests. Judge him on his actions and please continue to call him out Gonzo before it is too late.
Utter bolleaux. The truth won’t be anything like this. You can’t rely on anything coming out of talkSPORT.
Completely Agree
Talksh*te Rubbish…
Remember they said Bowen to villa 100% Done !!
Ex the Only one to trust
Steve B
Business men like him can lay their hands on money any time they want. I can’t believe for 1 minute that his business bank accounts are empty. 150m is probably what he would find down the back of his sofa
A bounced Czech.
😊
One of the few on here who even possess a sense of humour.
😄 goodun
Gooner!
Get Him out he only wants the club for the money he can make and now just like Sullivan when it comes to putting cash in he suddenly cannot find it….Like Staveley or not she does have a track record with football clubs and with all that is going on in the transfer market right now we seem more eager to sell whoever for whatever than get players in.
PAT HE SOON FOUND MONEY FOR HIS TEAM HE OWNS SPARTA PRAGUE THERE BUIDING A NEW STADIUM RIGHT NOW SAYS IT ALL MATE