The Telegraph are reporting that the Saudi PIF will relaunch a £305m takeover bid for Newcastle United if the ongoing legal proceedings against the Premier League prove to be successful.
It was confirmed on Thursday via a club statement that Newcastle United are now pursuing legal action against the EPL for the role they played in the Amanda Staveley-led bid, which ultimately collapsed when the Saudis were forced to pull out back in July.
Both Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brothers went public in stating their eagerness to get the bid back on the table soon after the deal broke down, however the current stance of the Saudi PIF has been unknown.
Now, The Telegraph’s Jason Burt has revealed that they are still wishing to buy the club and still have plans in place to do so – but it all depends on the outcome of Mike Ashley’s case.
Here’s a snippet from Burt’s big piece:
The Saudi-led consortium that attempted to buy Newcastle United intends to re-submit its £305million bid if the club succeeds in winning an arbitration case against the Premier League.
Newcastle finally issued a statement to confirm that “arbitration proceedings” are under way after the collapse of the bid from the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the Reuben Brothers and Amanda Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners.
The offer was withdrawn in July when PIF grew frustrated at an impasse with the Premier League, amid concerns over the ownership structure, still not approving the proposed takeover despite it having been submitted in April.
Newcastle and the club’s owner Mike Ashley are contesting the use of the Premier League’s Owners and Directors Test and the buyers are also confident that they should have passed a test that, they argue, became impossible to deal with because of the demands placed upon them.
If Newcastle are successful and with Ashley remaining committed to selling to the consortium it is likely a new bid will be made in the hope of finally concluding a deal.
Independent arbitration was offered to the buyers in the summer by the Premier League but it was declined because of concerns over the process and because they were adamant the takeover should have been approved.
Way back in April we had every reason to expect this Saudi-backed takeover to go through.
All these months later, it’s fair to say we now live with a small slither of hope – and certainly not in expectation that this deal will finally end with a happy outcome.
After what’s been served up to us so far in 2020, who knows what will happen next!
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What Staveley and the Reubens want is hardly relevant, as PIF were providing the funds – hence the whole issue, but perhaps you would like to provide a link to the bit where you say “Both Amanda Staveley and the Reuben brothers went public in stating their eagerness to get the bid back on the table soon after the deal broke down”
I remember Staveley slagging off the EPL and thinking “well that’s not the best thing to do if you want to revive a deal!”
BykerBill(Quote)
They literally both released statements soon after. You must’ve been living under a rock if you didn’t read either! 😆
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
It is very evident the Premier never wanted the deal to go through. The huge influence that the so called big six have is scandalous. They cant have another club spoiling their party. The very fact that they wanted a breakaway Super League speaks volumes. The Premier needs to answer for their crimes.
Haydn Watson(Quote)