Interesting that. Things are never as cut and dried as they see, in terms of business takeovers, or investment, or indeed both of those when applied to Southampton FC. Except when Markus flew in with Nicola and bought the club.
There's an excellent Good Show style one of those that is so funny. Might find it. [Said in extreme Chinese Military Commander accent] Ancient proverb from The Bridge Over The River Wye: When right knee of black wolf wave to the rain of north wind, front tooth of purple owl will chew left ear off green dragon. Inscrutable, or it all becomes clear [as mud].
Remember when we debated about the value of SFC, and some of us believed it to be in the region of £250M because we'd read an evaluation elsewhere.? Well I understand that the proposed deal, which is trying to be worked through slightly different parent companies/holding groups, is for £210M for 80% of SFC. Which makes SFC worth £262.5M. That's more in line with what we were thinking. Not this £180-190M that was bandied about. Or maybe that was for even less of a controlling share, like 75%.?
So Katerina said "The Premier League is increasingly competitive; we need to keep moving forward and look to new markets for commercial growth, innovation and to share our journey. Together, we have had many years of progression and success, and ensuring this continues is the main focus of any possible PARTNERSHIP."
Fair enough. 'Takeover' sounds so much more dramatic though, so the media go with that. But I like 'partnership'.
If someone buys even 50.1% it's still essentially a takeover in my eyes. Would be nice to have around for a couple of years though to oversee the transition. Bit like at Everton.
Think Katharina is in a difficult position. She wants to sell...both for her own reasons and because she feels that we need a bigger injection of cash than she wants to or can provide....but she also wants us to continue on the same path. Easier to sell if you don't care who you sell to.
My thoughts exactly. If someone buys 80% of the club they can pretty much do what they like with it. Kat retaining 20% wouldn't allow her to block anything, although it would support the idea she's not just selling to the highest bidder.
When you consider that it is 238,900 miles away, it is quite remarkable and says something about your eye sight!
Perhaps she is keen on retaining a significant share of the organisation for another reason entirely. She is clearly aware of the growth the club has experienced of late and must also know that with our business model there is every possibility this will continue. If she retains 20% not only will she receive dividends but if we continue to grow and reach the champions league (just an example) then that 20% may rise in value from £52.5m to £100m. She is a business woman after all so her motives may not be as entirely sentimental as we once thought.
Apologies if already posted, but a latest update on any deal has been published: http://www.insideworldfootball.com/2017/04/19/southamptons-210m-sale-chinese-investors-group/
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/15233628.Saints_takeover_still_alive/?ref=rss Echo also reporting that a deal with the Lander parent company (rather than Lander Sports) is still possible.
