Breaking news: Sir John Hall sells his share

[sandman02uk 0]

Once Ashley has 50% +1 he can call for an EGM and start changing the Board

 

That's what I was thinking, it really is that simple, isn't it? Surely Shepherd hasn't got a leg to stand on if Ashley gets to 50% + 1, which he will do.

 

absolutely, once he has 51% he can do what he likes and no one can stop him

 

He can't take the club private which is will most likely be his ultimate aim.

 

fair comment

[Bombadil 0]

Anal on holiday and it's all kicking off. The leproed one must be chomping at the bit. Bet he's back tomorrow 'exclusive from our man Oliver in Barbados.'

 

The phone lines to Barbados will be absolutely clogged what with the whole world of football and business wanting to call him.

[Ken 119]

Chloe Griffiths, The Journal

 

A secretive billionaire businessman has launched a £133m bid to take over Newcastle United after buying millions of shares from Sir John Hall and his son Douglas.

 

Retail entrepreneur Mike Ashley - ranked as the UK's 25th richest man - has bought a 41.6% stake in the club for more than £55m in a move that sparked intense speculation over the future of chairman Freddy Shepherd.

 

Critics and disenchanted fans, some of whom booed Mr Shepherd at the final home game of the season, have spoken of their hope that the bid will herald a fresh start at the club.

 

Mr Ashley - owner of the country's largest sports retailers, Sports Direct International, - bought 55.3m shares in the club at £1 a share. The Buckinghamshire-born recluse has priced the rest of the club at the same rate and is now keen to gain a majority share-holding.

 

 

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Stock exchange rules mean that the 42-year-old now has to make a cash offer for the remaining shares, 29.8% of which are owned by Mr Shepherd.

 

If he manages to obtain 50% plus one share, he would take over control of the day-to-day running of the club and make decisions regarding the chairman.

 

Mr Ashley, who made more than £900m in February after floating one of his companies, has set up a firm called St James Holdings Ltd specifically for the takeover bid.

 

He announced yesterday that Sir John would remain as the club's life president. The former chairman backed the 42-year-old entrepreneur as the "right person" to replace him.

 

Library

Click on the links below to read how The Journal has covered this story:

*I will not sell up - May 17, 2007

*Confusion at United 'holding club back' - Jan 22, 2007

*Blame game as bid for United collapses - Jan 12, 2007

*Bid group blow the whistle - Jan 05, 2007

*United to be sold - Dec 15, 2006

*United investor revealed - Nov 16, 2006

 

Mr Ashley said: "I am delighted to have this opportunity to invest in Newcastle United. The club has a fantastic infrastructure, for which Sir John and the board must take much of the credit.

 

"I am pleased that Sir John has agreed to remain as life president of the club.

 

"Newcastle United has a wonderful heritage and the passion of its fans is legendary.

 

"I am sure that, like me, they are already excited about the prospects of next season under the new manager's stewardship."

 

Sir John, who formed the Magpie Group to take over the club in the early 1990s, stood down as chairman in 1997.

 

He said: "I have been associated with the direction of Newcastle United for nearly 20 years. In that time, I have led the club and, before I retired, led the team responsible for modernization of the club we all see today.

 

"It is now time for me to move on and let others take up the challenge of competing in the global marketplace."

 

He said: "Mike Ashley is a major player in the sporting world and I am convinced that he is the right person to take my place and take the club forward.

 

"I am sure he will be good for the club and its loyal fans, and indeed for the region.

 

"I wish him the very best and hope he enjoys it as much as I have. Finally, I would like to thank all the fans for their support whilst I was at the helm and would ask them to lend the same level of support to Mike."

 

Mr Ashley left school at 16 and set up the Sports Direct retail chain in 1982.

 

The group runs the Sports World retail chain and Lillywhites, and its brands include Dunlop, Kangol and Karrimor.

 

Mr Shepherd has fought off two take-over approaches in recent months - one by Jersey-based Belgravia Group and the other by Polygon-backed St James' Park Group.

 

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Quick, secret - and in cash

 

Billionaire Mike Ashley snapped up the 41% stake in Newcastle United in a "matter of weeks", it was revealed last night.

 

Ashley's £55m purchase of the Hall family's shares was able to proceed so quickly because he was a cash buyer, a source close to the deal told The Journal.

 

And as he has bought more than 30% of the club, Stock Market rules dictate he must now offer every shareholder in the club the same price of 100p a share - amounting to a £133.1m takeover of NUFC.

 

Ashley, owner of sportswear company Sport Direct International, paid more than £55m to acquire 55,342,223 shares at 100p each to take a stake amounting to 41.6% of the club.

 

Each share was sold at a premium of 19% on the previous night's closing price.

 

The insider said: "It's a fair and full price. There's been an awful lot of takeover speculation over the last six months but this deal happened in a matter of weeks, rather than months. It was fast, but then not many people are in a position to buy almost half of a Premiership club for cash."

 

Last night, analysts said Ashley would be "hard to beat" as an owner in terms of financial clout.

 

Andrew Miller, of Barclays Wealth, in Newcastle, said: "He would be hard to beat unless you could get Philip Green [bHS billionaire] interested in football. The 100p is the highest figure we have seen bandied around and, if he's going to throw his financial weight behind the club, then the fans should be over the moon.

 

"The share price after the announcement was 98p to buy and 94p to sell, so the market does not seem to anticipate a higher deal coming through [for the remaining shares]."

 

Ashley now has to make an offer for the remaining shares, which he has done at the same price, conditional on the acquisition of in excess of 50%. Once he gets to 50% plus one share, he would take over control of the club's day-to-day running.

 

If he were to gain a 75% holding, he would have control of the club and be able to de-list it, at which point reaching 90% ownership and the point where the offer becomes unconditional is inevitable.

 

Yesterday's development came out of the blue in comparison to the speculation which surrounded earlier interest in the club, perhaps in keeping with an intensely private man who has earned his reputed £1.9bn fortune away from the limelight.

 

Mr Miller said: "It was only this year that there was a picture released of him and, when he floated Sports Direct, he upset the City a bit because of the lack of information he had provided."

 

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'The Howard Hughes of modern day'

 

Described as "Britain's answer to the late Howard Hughes", retail entrepreneur and self-made billionaire Mike Ashley is a reclusive figure.

 

The 42-year-old owner of Sports World International - the UK's largest retailer of sports clothing and accessories - is intensely private, never attending functions and rarely giving interviews.

 

Until recently the only photos that existed of Mr Ashley were from the 1970s when he was a county squash coach, while many of his employees have never met him.

 

He is ranked as 25th in the Sunday Times Rich List with a personal fortune of £1,900m.

 

Philip Beresford, who ranked him 54th on the 2006 version of the list, said neither he nor his staff could ever manage to contact Ashley and described him as "easily Britain's answer to the late Howard Hughes".

 

Born in Burnham, Buckinghamshire in 1964, Ashley left school at 16, then began trading on the high street, opening Sport and Ski shops in and around London in the 80s. The chain expanded quickly and by the late 90s Mr Ashley had rebranded the chain Sport Soccer and had opened more than 100 stores.

 

Today, Mr Ashley's Hertfordshire-based group Sports World International has more than 300 UK stores including the chains Sports World, Lillywhites and the Original Shoe Company. The group employs 8,000 people in the UK and at stores in Ireland, Belgium and Slovenia.

 

In 2006, it overtook JJB Sports as the UK's largest sportswear retailer. Mr Ashley also owns several brands, including Dunlop Slazenger which he bought for £40m, followed up by outdoor gear manufacturer Karrimor, boxing brand Lonsdale and tennis brand Donnay.

 

He also took a £9m stake and signed a lucrative long-term deal with troubled brand Umbro.

 

The entrepreneur, who has been criticised for his "pile it high and sell it cheap" approach, also has a stake in Blacks Leisure, the owner of Millets and Mambo, and is thought to hold stakes in JJB Sports and 19% of JD Sports.

 

Little is known of Mr Ashley's private life, except that his former home was a 16-bedroom hotel in Buckinghamshire. He is known to prefer dressing casually, appearing more often in a tracksuit or jeans than a suit and often carries his business equipment in a plastic bag.

 

He married Swedish property developer Linda Jerlmyre in 1988 and had three children. When she divorced him 14 years later, he quietly agreed one of the biggest settlements in British legal history, reportedly handing over the family home, property and assets with total worth of £50m.

 

He is thought to live alone in a large house on the edge of a Hertfordshire village.

 

The building is hidden by trees, and CCTV cameras keep watch over the locked gates at the entrance to the half-mile drive.

 

His neighbours say they never see him. At the nearby pub, nobody has heard of him. When the local newspaper attempted to find out more about him a few months ago, they eventually resorted to placing an advert in their own pages appealing for information - and no one responded.

 

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The 'whistleblower' tycoon

 

Entrepeneur Mike Ashley is a man who doesn't make deals with his rivals.

 

The 42-year-old businessman even turned whistleblower on some of his competitors after an uncomfortable meeting when they tried to carve up the market.

 

He reported them to the Office of Fair Trading for fixing the price of replica football shirts - and this led to dawn raids, an inquiry and multi-million pound fines.

 

The Sports World boss acted after he was summoned to the Cheshire home of David Hughes - chairman of the now-defunct Allsports chain - in 2000 to discuss the pricing of a new Manchester United kit. It was reported to be a difficult meeting.

 

Another businessman at the meeting, Dave Whelan, chairman of Wigan Athletic Football Club and the JJB chain, first mistook the casual Mr Ashley for a gardener and then reportedly told him: "There's a club in the North son - and you're not part of it."

 

Mr Ashley's actions are in sharp contrast to that of Toon chairman Freddie Shepherd and vice-chairman Douglas Hall who were caught in a sting operation by the News of the World bragging about the profit they made from replica football shirts.

 

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Shepherd looks to be left in the cold

 

Chairman Freddie Shepherd will be forced to sell his 29% stake in Newcastle United, and earn as much as £40m, sports analysts predicted last night.

 

Shepherd has been "forced into a corner" and, if he chooses not to sell, could be sacked from the board if Ashley manages to secure another 10% of the club's shares, according to sport business expert Tom Cannon.

 

Mr Cannon, who is also dean of Buckingham University Business School, said: "I think Shepherd will now be thinking he doesn't have an awful lot of choice but to sell.

 

"It's obvious that Ashley will now want some say in the running of the club and my guess is that Freddie Shepherd will find that very difficult.

 

"Freddie Shepherd's 30% shareholding is not enough to stop Mike Ashley acquiring more than 50%, which would give him control of the day-to-day running of the club and allow him, should he choose, to sack Shepherd as chairman, vote him off the board and decide the dividend.

 

"All he needs to do that is another 10% and it seems impossible to think that he wouldn't get that." Shepherd, who succeeded Hall Snr at the helm in December 1997, has resisted takeover approaches from the Jersey-based Belgravia Group and the St James's Park Group.

 

As late as last week, Mr Shepherd, who has insisted in the past he would not stand in the way of a "Geordie Abramovich", said: "It is a plc matter.

 

"But none of these talks came to anything because I am not selling.

 

"It is an impossible club to buy. If the Halls don't sell and I don't sell, there is no way anybody can buy this club."

 

The club is servicing debts of around £80m and in March announced an operating loss of £6.9m for the six months to last December 31.

 

Mr Cannon said: "I would guess most shareholders will take the offer [of £1 per share] so that would leave Shepherd as a significant minority shareholder of a football club which is not particularly attractive.

 

"The fans will be likely to sell because all they will be looking for is someone who will bankroll the club - fans are supporters first and shareholders second."

[Bombadil 0]

http://videos.icnetwork.co.uk/icnewcastle/...eover-views.WMV

 

[sandman02uk 0]

http://videos.icnetwork.co.uk/icnewcastle/...eover-views.WMV

 

 

oh.my.god

[Tom 14013]

oh leazes, where art thou?

[Asprilla 96]

[Brock Manson 0]

http://videos.icnetwork.co.uk/icnewcastle/...eover-views.WMV

 

 

Is the first one fish?

[Tom 14013]

Spinning in his digital grave tbh

[Happy Face 29]

oh leazes, where art thou?

 

Barbados

[The Fish 10963]

http://videos.icnetwork.co.uk/icnewcastle/...eover-views.WMV

 

 

Is the first one fish?

 

I'm going bald mate.. can't be me

 

 

[Barney 0]

Little is known of Mr Ashley's private life, except that his former home was a 16-bedroom hotel in Buckinghamshire. He is known to prefer dressing casually, appearing more often in a tracksuit or jeans than a suit and often carries his business equipment in a plastic bag.

 

Awesome.

[East Stander 0]

Today's Ronny Headlines, doesn't the bit in bold make you weep!!

 

 

Freddy gets ready for battle

 

May 24 2007

 

By Nick Whitten, The Evening Chronicle

 

Battle today erupted over the ownership of Newcastle United as Freddy Shepherd came out fighting against the billionaire businessman trying to take over the club.

Chairman Shepherd was lying in a hospital bed suffering from pneumonia and a collapsed lung when he discovered sports shop mogul£ Mike Ashley had bought out the Hall family's 41.6% stake for £55m.

Ashley offered the same price of 100p per share to the rest of the shareholders including Shepherd, who owns 29%, valuing the club at £133m.

It is believed that Ashley is preparing a transfer war chest of up to £40m.

Today Shepherd said: "There is nothing Mike Ashley can do with this club unless he gets a 75% stake.

"He can't take full control, he can't change resolutions or the club's articles of association.

"He has spent £50m but he will have to spend a whole lot more, as he must now make an offer not just for my shares but the shares held by all the other shareholders." A club source said: "He is saddened by the news. He really didn't have any idea about any of this. The first he knew about it was when he read the Chronicle.

"All the negotiations have been done without his knowledge. He feels like he has been stabbed in the back.

"He is in hospital with pneumonia and a collapsed lung. He won't be having any meetings about this issue until the middle of next week at the earliest."

Ashley is said to be extremely confident he can acquire more than 51% of the club forcing Shepherd into a corner where he would have to sell.

An insider close to Ashley said: "He wants to completely take over the business.

"The plan is to buy out Freddy Shepherd in a matter of weeks. It is a very strong offer, 19% above the premium.

"If Freddy accepts, then there are other shareholders who would have to accept as well. If we get there more quickly, he will then set out his aims and plans. Mike Ashley is a winner. Just look at what he has achieved. It's about building a business and then maximising the brand.

"There are opportunities with this club to take the brand more widely."

Experts say Ashley's bid to buy Newcastle may be the wisest Premiership deal yet with its biggest asset being the hugely loyal Toon Army.

Harry Philip, who has just set up the sports finance unit for global giant GE Money, said Newcastle United was "one of the better investments" of the current takeover crop.

Mr Ashley would create a new board of directors if he does gain control of the club.

His intention is to give Newcastle a high international profile similar to those enjoyed by the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United.

He has also indicated that he will attend Newcastle games, something at odds for a man so private that he has rarely been seen outside his Hertfordshire mansion.

The news also came as a surprise to manager Sam Allardyce, who has been at the helm only a matter of days after succeeding Glenn Roeder.

The former Bolton boss said: "I'm as shocked about this as chairman Freddy Shepherd.

"I didn't know this was going to happen. I will be talking to the chairman to see what it all means and we'll go from here."

Ashley's prospective takeover could leave Allardyce with a much-improved summer transfer kitty and the manager welcomed any such cash injection. I don't know anything about the person hoping to take over. But he must want good things for Newcastle if he's spending such an amount on the club," added Allardyce.

---------------------------------------------------------

A tempting offer

Sportswear mogul Mike Ashley has effectively dangled a golden carrot in front of United's board and it is up to members whether they can resist.

When the Glazer family took over Manchester United they borrowed against the club and left it in debt.

But Ashley has made an outright cash offer for all Newcastle shares which means the club would not be saddled with any more debt if the £133m takeover went through.

Thanks to the Hall family's share, he currently holds a 41% stake but needs at least 50% and one share to take over control.

A full 75% share would give him complete control of the club.

Current chairman Freddy Shepherd holds a 29% share, institutional investors have 22% and fans account for the remaining 8%.

But with Shepherd indisposed while receiving hospital treatment no major developments are expected immediately.

Ashley has given shareholders a deadline of 60 days to accept his offer giving him total control, although the deal could be concluded quicker.

The offer of £1 a share is a 19% premium on market value before the announcement.

Newcastle United's plc is urging shareholders to consider carefully before accepting any offer.

In a statement released to the market yesterday, the club said: "The Board of Newcastle United will meet to consider the offer shortly.

"Newcastle United shareholders are urged to take no further action at this stage."

[Sima 0]

Look North saying he is going to reject the £37m offered

[Isegrim 9896]

If the Halls have really done all this behind Freddy's back then I can understand him being a wee bit pissed off.

[The Fish 10963]

Dear Mr Ashley

 

I'm willing to sell my one share for 1p if it helps get rid of Mr Creosote and his out of date approach to business. I'll even pop it round your house if you like

[The Fish 10963]

If the Halls have really done all this behind Freddy's back then I can understand him being a wee bit pissed off.

 

It's hard to tell if you're doing it behind his back or not.. the man's essentially a beach ball

[curry stained pilchard 0]

Today's Ronny Headlines, doesn't the bit in bold make you weep!!

 

 

Freddy gets ready for battle

 

May 24 2007

 

By Nick Whitten, The Evening Chronicle

 

...A club source said: "He is saddened by the news. He really didn't have any idea about any of this. The first he knew about it was when he read the Chronicle.

"All the negotiations have been done without his knowledge. He feels like he has been stabbed in the back....

 

Are they talking about Oliver there?

[nufc4ever 0]

Today's Ronny Headlines, doesn't the bit in bold make you weep!!

 

 

Freddy gets ready for battle

 

May 24 2007

 

By Nick Whitten, The Evening Chronicle

 

...A club source said: "He is saddened by the news. He really didn't have any idea about any of this. The first he knew about it was when he read the Chronicle.

"All the negotiations have been done without his knowledge. He feels like he has been stabbed in the back....

 

Silly old Fred. That's just your rib.

[The Fish 10963]

[Craig 6700]

http://videos.icnetwork.co.uk/icnewcastle/...eover-views.WMV

 

 

Is the first one fish?

 

Nope, but the second to last one who's wheeling his hand around a lot looks like Gemmill to me.

 

Looks like you've lost some weight Scott....

[Renton 21983]

Wtf is that guy in the shirt on about?

[Craig 6700]

Wtf is that guy in the shirt on about?

 

Dunno but it looks a bit like Pud with a syrup on..

[David Kelly 1260]

Wtf is that guy in the shirt on about?

Where the fuck did they find him

 

Mind you could they have possibly spoken to a thicker looking selection of the Newcastle public? You'd think they'd done it on purpose!

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Never mind a sumo fight, I think they should have an all you can eat contest. We'll make it Lau's Buffet King, Pay per view, Girls Aloud wander round in bikinis wiping their mouths and telling us which round it is.