SHEFFIELD Wednesday this afternoon appeared to cast doubt on the Geoff Sheard takeover by announcing they had not yet received a "sufficiently clear or developed" proposal from any party.
It follows claims from sources close to the Sheard camp yesterday that a deal for the shares held by Dave Allen, Keith Addy and Geoff Hulley had been agreed.
The Owls today made a statement to the Stock Exchange and published it on their website.
It is the club's first official comment on the saga since they told the City in February that they had received interest that may or may not lead to a takeover.
Today the Owls also made it clear that they remain open to offers.
Their statement says: "The board of Sheffield Wednesday announced on February 29 that it had received an indicative non-binding expression of interest which may or may not lead to an offer being made for some or all of the shares in the company.
"The board notes recent press comment relating to the imminence of an offer for Sheffield Wednesday and to certain shareholders in the company having agreed to sell their shares to Mr Geoff Sheard, one of the parties referred to in the recent press as a potential offeror for the company.
"The board wishes to confirm that it has not at this time received any offer proposal from any party that is sufficiently clear or developed with regard to, inter alia, terms, source of finance, timetable or the process by which any offer for the company is to be implemented.
"The board continues to be open to dialogue with any bone fide offeror and to working to develop any acceptable proposal such that it can be presented to the company's shareholders for their consideration.
However, the board does not currently have the required evidence to suggest that the posting of any offer document to shareholders is imminent.
"The board also wishes to confirm that none of the company's directors including Mr Geoff Hulley, has entered into any arrangement with any party regarding the sale of their own respective shareholdings in Sheffield Wednesday.
"Further, the board has received written confirmations from Mr David Allen, former chairman of the company and Mr Keith Addy, a former director of the company that they too have not entered into any such arrangements at this time.
"The board will keep shareholders informed of any further material developments."
Two consortia are known to be aiming to take over the Owls: one led by Sheard, a Lancashire businessman, and another fronted by Jon Sotnik, former chief executive of Darlington.
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