06/11/2008

A first wisper from the horses mouth

Today one additional step towards the inevitable sale of West Ham was taken.

According to BBC, Ásgeir Friðgeirsson, our vice president and spokesperson for the Guðmundsson family, said that " [Björgolfur Guðmundsson] is evaluating all of his business interests, including West Ham".

Even though the fact that West Ham most likely is for sale hardly is news, this is the first time we have heard this from someone inside the club and so close to our owner.

There is something that does surprise me in all this though. We knew that BG would need to concentrate what financial muscle he still has in his core business and a sale of West Ham thus makes sense.

But I was fairly certain that we would be presented with a done or a almost done deal. Why is that not the case?
There have been several rumours that potential buyers have been courting BG but that BG was not happy about what he was offered. The Kremlinologist in me senses that a message is being sent here. A - "I want more bidders since I'm not happy with how this auction is going" - kind of a message.

So is the sale actually getting any closer?

Well, since it will ultimately take place, every day is one day closer, but apart from that, the fact that this story is printed (and not denied) tells us that BG is more inclined than ever to take an offer for the club, and that should be good news for all of us that wants this deal done as quick as possible.
I have heard myself saying that I would embrace any new owner just to get out of this "panta rei" situation. However, there are plenty of lousy club owners, so please, for once send us the right one!
EDIT:
Mike Lee, heavily associated with the icelandic takeover is resigning as non-executive director.

P.S. Every faithful Bubbleview reader already know the background to this story and the rest of you I urge to click on the label "financial" in the label list to the left of this post to read my previous entries on this topic.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A key component to determine the time-table for the sale of the club is the amount of money that Samson owes its creditors. If this amount is low enough for a sale of WH for, say, 75 mill GBP to satisfy the creditors they are likely to force Bjorgolfur to strike a deal quickly. But if Samson’s debts are considerably higher, which I suspect they are, it is probably in the creditors’ interest to take their time to try to get a higher price. Unfortunately this would mean a prolonged period of uncertainty.