London Stadium owners London Legacy Development (LLDC) have confirmed an approach from PAI Capital for a long lease of the London Stadium and surrounding park and attractions.
Lyn Garner, Chief Executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation said:
“We have a clear responsibility to explore all opportunities to ensure the best possible outcome for the public and taxpayer from the Olympic legacy and are keen to work with West Ham United to reduce the cost of the Stadium to the tax payer.
“We have been approached by PAI Capital who we understand are putting together a serious offer to purchase the controlling interest at West Ham United. On this basis we have entered into discussions with PAI Capital on a set of principles that, if adopted, would see PAI Capital owning the Stadium on a long leasehold should they reach agreement with the current owners of West Ham United and take a controlling interest in the Club.
“LLDC has always been open to discussions with potentially interested parties, including the current owners of West Ham United, as well as any credible possible investors into the Park, and this remains the case.
“Any potential sale of West Ham United is a matter for the owners of the Club and not LLDC.”
Claret and Hugh says: This is a strange set of affairs with a public body making a public statement on a condition of a lease being the sale of a private football club. One would think LLDC have a legal duty to put the long lease of the park out for competitive tender rather than negotiating in secret with a consortium. This whole affair has been played out in the public media so it figures that the stadium owners would join in on the action. It will be interesting to see what London Assembly members who scrutinise the Mayor of London spending which includes the LLDC have to say on this. I can imagine they will have a number of questions for Lyn Garner and her bosses and I will imagine she will be hauled in front of a committee very soon. I can see a flurry of freedom of information requests coming their way very soon.
Please stop saying this is ‘odd’ or ‘strange’ – it isn’t! It’s completely normal in these types of transactions whereby assets are owned by third parties.
Sean, you are again being misleading. There is no mention in Lyn Garner’s statement about a lease for “the surrounding park and attractions”. She only refers to the stadium nor does PAI mention this in their statement
It’s almost like Sean doesn’t want to believe there might be some serious truth and intention behind it? A very, very negative man.
There’s not – rather than make silly remarks about Sean explain why you think there is some serious truth
How can you say there’s no intention behind it? Do you know the cost of putting a consortium together? Legal advice for initial due diligence, costs of viability, publicity and PR, the cost of advice regarding a lease as complicated as the stadiums etc. It’s a fortune. I know, because I do it as a job!
I’m not saying they will have a bid accepted, or whether they would be good owners or not, but you guys really need to see that there is clear intention and accept, like I do, that we don’t know whether they would be better than GSB. Sadly, you’re just pushing the fact that GSB would be better. You don’t spend this money initially for a laugh or to please a few fans – it’s quite clear they’re serious but please stop posting that things are ‘odd’, ‘bizarre’ and that they would be useless owners etc. You cannot, and do not, know that.
see comment above
Absolutely, Hugh. I deal with acquisitions and they are usually done with Non Disclosure Agreements and secrecy, not press releases and supposition before a formal bid has been made for the club.
This bid might come good but given the antics of PAI to date, I don’t believe they have the resources yet nor have the best interests of the club at heart. Purely money men looking to develop the area. It wouldn’t surprise me if, in a few years if they acquire the club, they move us somewhere else and redevelop the stadium into flats.
The ‘strange set of affairs’ started the day the board sold our stadium to properly developers and moved into this rented non football stadium on the back of a pack of lies.
Nothing from here on is anymore surprising or strange.
Brilliant. Your having a meltdown ⚒⚒
It they’re interested in the club, why don’t they say what they’re going to do for us?
Legally they won’t be able to. The statement on their website explains this at the bottom. For some reason the ‘paper version’ missed this out.
Hugh your attitude stinks mate.
Ok – just another opinion from a sid
Seems a bunch of real estate agents want an easy pay day , keep the club for a year or 2 don’t spend anything sell the best players and big pay day when they can buy the stadium and sell for flats.
And getting Rio on board makes it even worse 😂
What Claret and Hugh says makes a lot of sense to me, Sean. Seems like a reasonable assessment of these shenanigans.
COYI
I can imagine they will have a number of questions for Lyn Garner and her bosses and I will imagine…..
a lot of imagining
is he on acid?
Amazing what free lunches and ego-massaging can do for the causes of a bunch of investment bankers. COYI
Still the GSBOUT brigade have provided no evidence of why we should take this ‘offer’ seriously and why these potential new owners would be better than the current ones. It’s like they just want a change without evidence that that change would be better for West Ham as a club. And yet, i thought they were all about ‘the club’.
Come on guys, show us some actual reasoning, the floors all yours…
No-one is saying we should take the offer and if you’re an intelligent bloke, you’ll know that it’s impossible to know whether they would be better owners than GSB. But you seem to be suffering from Stockholm syndrome and refusing to accept that these guys just might be better owners? I know your next argument is going to be ‘let’s see facts and figures etc’ but they’re clearly under a form of NDA so it isn’t possible to know this. I don’t like GSB – I don’t think they’re good owners and in modern football, i think they’re out of their depth so we’ve got to be open minded that there are people out there who see West Ham as not only a good investment, but a big opportunity as well.
JB, i would welcome a takeover from people who i believed could not only invest significantly in our team and facilities but that also had the best interests of our club and the wider West Ham community at heart. That, therefore, puts paid to any potential that i am suffering from Stockholm Syndrome (one hopes!).
Doesn’t the way this is being played out strike you as being wholly unprofessional? Were the takeover’s at Villa, Everton, Brighton, even the recent failed attempt at Newcastle, conducted in this rather amateurish, potentially destabilising and slightly condescending manner? As a fan of this club, you can’t surely tell me this is your preferred way of potential new owners highlighting their proposals in purchasing our club?
Fans have spent years condemning Sullivan for making our club seem like a circus run by clowns and even before him we had the Icelandic disaster and before that Terry F*****g Brown & Co. Then Sullivan hires a manager who is doing his utmost to put a stop to the circus-like environment and who is trying to bring some professionalism back to our club. And here we are now, with a reality t.v (i can’t even bring myself to use the word ‘star’) joker, telling all and sundry that a statement is imminent, how ‘these guys are gonna change West Ham’, how he knows how much money they’ve got, how it’s ‘gonna be amazin’ for our club’, superlative after superlative, again, played out in the public eye, without any evidence whatsoever to back up these statements and we’re supposed to believe that finally, this is what we’ve been dreaming about?
Really, JB?
Just as we seem to be heading in a positive direction, it’s amateur hour again at West Ham and this time, you can’t blame our current owners for it
I have to say that the level of journalistic investigation has been pretty poor from this site.
Nothing detailing the links between this group and the conservative party. Nothing detailing if people linked to the bid have contributed to which political parties. Nothing about the links and finances behind it beyond a shallow investigation
One of the more interesting articles on this whole take over was attacking the journalists who first gave details of this alleged takeover. Nothing was mentioned on the links between these and certain sporting agencies. Mainly I guess because that will open up a Pandora’s box of issues which would be embarrassing for the club.
I think PAI is not a good option for the club. However it shows just how bad Sullivan is that people are actively supporting this mess.