Mike Ashley enters the race to buy Sheffield Wednesday as former Newcastle owner has provided proof of funding.
Mike Ashley prepares to enter fight for Sheffield Wednesday with £10m bid.
In an attempt to close a transaction quickly, former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is planning a proposal of roughly £10 million for Sheffield Wednesday. Begbies Traynor, the administrator, was chosen by the owner, Dejphon Chansiri, last month to oversee the Championship club’s sale on Wednesday as an alternative to liquidation after he failed to pay employees and players on time for five of the previous seven months.
Begbies Traynor required them to show that they had access to £50 million as proof of finances before they could be taken into consideration. However, the sale is an open auction, and the final price is decided by the amount of offers. He may start doing due diligence and gain access to Wednesday’s accounts and data room since Ashley is thought to have given enough proof of funds to get into the process.
The 61-year-old has the benefit of being well-known to the English Football League, so if Begbies Traynor agrees on a sale price, the deal will probably be approved swiftly because there are no doubts about the source and adequacy of his finance.
Since selling Newcastle to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund four years ago, Ashley has not been actively involved in football. However, the following year, he purchased Coventry’s CBS Arena, which he later sold back to the team for £40 million this summer—more than double the purchase price.
Ashley has been open about his plan of focussing on struggling athletes, and Wednesday certainly fits this description.
Kris Wigfield of Begbies Traynor stated this week that “there are already four or five interested parties that look like the real deal,” indicating that Ashley will face competition for Wednesday, which is likely to raise the price. The American billionaire John McEvoy, who owns minority shares in Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies and the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators, is thought to be one of them. At least one British organisation and another American organisation are also reportedly interested.