Newcastle United Takeover: A history of nightmares
Since the start of Mike Ashley’s reign in 2007 many potential buyers have been and gone, in the last three years alone there have been five takeover attempts including the current attempt by Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners and the Rueben Brothers.
Before going on to talk about the current attempt, here is a reminder of the failed takeovers from the past few years.
PCP Capital Partners – 2017
This walk down memory lane begins with where we’ve ended up. Amanda Staveley’s firm PCP Capital Partners had made an offer of around £300 million. War soon broke out with Staveley refusing to leave the offer alone, accusing Ashley and his partners of being ‘Time wasters’. Ashley ultimately walked away from the sale.
Mystery Chinese Consortium – 2017
This takeover talk seemingly came out of nowhere right at the same time as PCP Partners made an offer to buy the club. The consortium is still unknown to this day and we only have the words of Dr Tom Markham, a football-takeover ‘expert’ who helped East Asian consortia in the acquisitions of both Southampton and West Bromwich Albion.
Nothing ever came to fruition however.
The Bin Zayed Group – 2019
A £350 million bid had supposedly been made by BZG at the beginning of the summer, with some claiming the fee had already been accepted. Newcastle took a stance of “No Comment”, something NUFC fans have become all too familiar with these days.
Ashley eventually went public, questioning the intentions of the group from the U.A.E in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, with different amounts of money being thrown around, the departure of Rafa Benitez and the eventual out come of nothing changing left fans upset, angry and frustrated.
Peter Kenyon & GACP Sports – 2019
The former Chelsea and Manchester United Chief Executive attempted to rally a consortium together to bid for Newcastle United. This information was leaked to the public, with Newcastle again sticking with their “No comment” strategy.
Kenyon ultimately failed as he was unable to find the funds needed to buy the club, needing to pay Ashley in instalments was his downfall.
Saudi Arabian Public Investor Funds, PCP Capital Partners, The Reuben Brothers – 2020
The current NUFC takeover attempt, a fee of £300 million has reportedly been agreed on and the deal is currently being checked over by the Premier League specifically the owners and directors test, with questions raised about the Saudi investor’s legitimacy. Newcastle are maintaining their “No Comment” Status.
“most of this (the information) is coming from the buying side and that’s almost been the problem all along with Mike Ashley in general and the communication you get from Newcastle United.”
Chris Waugh from the Athletic being interviewed about the current takeover situation
If the deal were to go through it would end Ashley’s 13 year tenure as Owner of Newcastle United with the Saudi PIF holding 80% of the shares with Amanda Staveley and the Reuben Brothers holding the other 20%.
With no takeover news recently, transfer speculation and talks of replacing Steve Bruce as manager have made headlines. This deal has gotten a lot further than any of the other takeover attempts ever had, but only time will tell if this deal will actually happen.
