West Ham shareholders to invest £30m in rights issue
West Ham supporting journalist Jacob Steinburg writing in the Guardian broke the news this evening saying ‘West Ham’s board plans to inject at least £30m into the club by launching a rights issue in response to the financial problems’
The Hammers floated the idea of a rights issue last summer to raise money for transfers but it was not concluded on that occasion.
A rights issue is an invitation to existing shareholders to purchase additional new shares in the company. In a rights offering, each shareholder receives the right to purchase a pro-rata allocation of additional shares at a specific price and within a specific period if time.
David Sullivan owns 51.1% of the shares, David Gold 35.1%. Tripp Smith 10% and Terry Brown, Harris Family and Karren Brady the remaining 3.8% of shares.
Should a shareholder not subscribe to the rights issue they would find their percentage decreasing when new shares are issued.
Claret and Hugh understand the rights issue will not cover all of the club’s losses as the club was already set to lose £40m even before the suspension of football.