Daniel Kretinsky has reached an agreement with David Sullivan to become the largest single shareholder at West Ham United, in a major blow to Amanda Staveley in her pursuit of a stake in the Championship club.
Staveley was at the London Stadium this week as a guest of
the club’s co-chairwoman Vanessa Gold, who in July had agreed to sell her
family’s 25.1 per cent shareholding, valued at £150million, to a consortium led
by the British businesswoman and former Newcastle United director.
But The Times understands that Kretinsky, Sullivan and the
other shareholders have exercised their pre-emption rights ahead of Thursday’s
5.30pm deadline to purchase the Gold family stake, with Kretinsky and Sullivan
believed to have reached a separate agreement that certainly makes it difficult
for Staveley to maintain an interest in West Ham. The deal is due to be
completed by the end of this month.
Gold has now issued a completion notice on the £150million
share sale, which includes a five-day deadline that means all monies must be
transferred before the end of next week.
While each existing shareholder can only buy the equivalent
of their current stake of the Gold shares, the deal will involve Kretinsky
purchasing a stake directly from Sullivan. The Golds had previously reached an
agreement with Kretinsky to buy their shares and this new deal will mean the
stake belonging to the Czech billionaire owner of Royal Mail will rise
from 27 to 46 per cent, with Sullivan’s shareholding increasing from 38.8 to 40
per cent. Tripp Smith’s stake will go from 8 to 11 per cent, with the remaining
shareholders rising from 1.1 to 3 per cent.
Only if the existing shareholders do not take up their
pre-emption rights to buy their equivalent percentage of the Gold family shares
would Staveley then have the opportunity to make a separate offer.
While West Ham may welcome the stability Kretinsky’s
increased and continuing presence provides, a larger stake for Sullivan may
raise eyebrows when it was only in June that he stood down as joint-chairman in
the wake of allegations made in an investigation by The Times and the BBC.
The investigation detailed how multiple women had accused
the billionaire businessman of abusing his power by preying on them for sex. Sullivan “categorically” denies the claims
and has already attended a match at West Ham this season, despite it then
emerging that in 2023 the club had put certain safeguarding measures in place
in conjunction with the Football Association. The measures banned Sullivan from
having one-to-one contact or direct access to the club’s women’s and youth
teams after the FA received a historical complaint about him.
Last month The Times reported how the independent football
regulator (IFR), having responded to the initial reports by saying it would
seek “urgent information” from Sullivan, had
contacted Essex police as part of its continuing inquiry into what it
previously described as “extremely serious allegations”.
The regulator has also been in touch with the FA as part of
the new checks it can make under its new owners, directors and senior
executives (ODSE) regime.
A spokesman for the regulator said: “The IFR’s enquiries
into the suitability of David Sullivan under our ODSE regime are active and
ongoing and we are in touch with relevant authorities as part of this process.”
Comments
Post a Comment