West Ham United have won a court battle with their stadium owners over a £3.6million payment they were obliged to make after the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky bought a 27 per cent stake in the club.
The High Court has ruled that an “expert determination” that
the club had to pay the money as part of their lease agreement with E20
Stadium, a body set up by the publicly-owned London Legacy Development
Corporation (LLDC) to manage the stadium, contained two “manifest errors”.
West Ham’s parent company, WH Holding (WHH), contested
£3.6million of the £6.5million it paid to E20 in March 2023 under the stadium
lease penalty clause, which was included so that any increase in the value of
the club as a result of their deal for the London Stadium should be
reflected in a payment to the stadium’s owners. The £3.6million will now be
repaid to West Ham, unless E20/LLDC appeals.
West Ham paid an initial £2.6million fee after Kretinsky —
whose multibillion-pound takeover of Royal Mail’s parent company was approved
by the government last month — bought 27 per cent of the club for £169million
in 2021, but LLDC claimed it should be higher and won an expert determination
for an extra £3.6million, which led to the court challenge by the club.
Paul Mitchell KC, the deputy High Court judge, said in the
ruling: “In my judgment WHH has proved that the expert determination in this
case contains two manifest errors. Accordingly, I shall grant the declaration
sought by WHH that the determination is not final and binding on WHH.”
The judge said he would impose an order on costs if no
agreement could be reached between the parties.
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