We want the Toon
By The Evening Chronicle, August 21, 2006
An investment group today confirmed it was in talks to take over Newcastle United.
Jersey-based financial investors the Belgravia Group said it was looking into a potential takeover of the St James' Park club.
Belgravia, which manages more than £1bn for wealthy investors, sees Newcastle as "an attractive opportunity".
A spokesman for the company said: "It's probably around about the best brand in football in terms of fan base, stadium and history. "Investment on the pitch could lead to the club becoming even more successful off it."
The group is believed to see United as a vehicle to boost its sports marketing services and it is that side of Belgravia which is thought to be in talks.
Belgravia released a statement to the Stock Exchange this morning.
Takeover talk at St James' Park has mounted ever since tycoon Sir John Hall announced in June he was looking to offload his majority 28.8% stake in the club.
He was locked in talks with US investors Polygon, but those talks are believed to have broken down.
This morning a statement from Belgravia read:
"The Belgravia Group confirms that it is examining the potential opportunity of acquiring Newcastle United plc, which may or may not lead to an offer for the company being made by Belgravia."
Under Stock Market rules, if Belgravia topped a 30% stake in the club it must then launch a full takeover bid for the club.
According to reports, Sir John's son, Douglas, who owns a further 12%, is also understood to be willing to sell his stake in St James' Park if a deal can be struck with his father.
Experts say that any offer would come in at 10% or 15% above the share price, which opened this morning at 61p and jumped 9p in the first two hours of trading.
At those premiums the Hall family is set to net between £35m and £40m.
A spokesman for Belgravia said they saw the possible acquisition of Newcastle as "an attractive opportunity" and added "It's at an early stage and nothing is finalised."
But a stumbling block to any takeover has always been club chairman Freddy Shepherd, who has been steadily increasing his stake in United over the last year to just under 28%.
Shepherd has said in the past he does not want to take over the club, which has a market value of £81m, but he could now be forced to protect his position.
A spokesman for Newcastle United plc said today:
"The club's position remains the same as it was in June when we were first informed that Sir John Hall was in talks with other parties. "We communicated our position to the market in June and we have nothing further to add. "What a shareholder does is not a matter for the plc. Only until things develop further does that change."
Sir John Hall was unavailable for comment.
Nufcmismanagement view:
If Shepherd appears to not want to go then this could just be a sign that he's trying to get as much money as possible for his shares.
Shepherd has not invested a single penny in the football club, he's bought shares and taken a very good wage for presiding over failure, the club were the second best in the country when he took over, and we’ve only once got close to that under this man.
Shepherd has also presided over shocking managerial appointments and purchase of players, to blame the manager is a disgrace, why should he distance himself from the failure of his appointees?