Sheffield Wednesday takeover collapses - James Bord-led consortium withdraws from process
The takeover of Sheffield Wednesday by a consortium led by James Bord has collapsed, with the group having moved to signal their withdrawal from proceedings, The Star can reveal.
Consortium member Alsharif Faisal Bin Jamil confirmed to The Star on Wednesday afternoon that they were pulling back from the process and would not be re-entering the bid to buy the club.
After Begbies Traynor conducted their own vetting processes on three formal bidders, the Bord consortium were named their preferred bidder on Christmas Eve having put forward the largest offer to take the club on. Weeks of back and forth with authorities have followed to determine whether they were fit to pass the EFL’s Owners and Directors Test - and the IFR’s vetting processes should the process have extended into May.
A further tranche of information was exchanged from the consortium on the request of authorities last week. As previously reported, concerns are believed to have needed to be ironed out - but the consortium have said their withdrawal is due to a developed understanding of the club’s situation meaning their valuation of the club is ‘significantly lower’ than that of their bid. They also made clear their bid was some way higher than £30m.
Bord’s consortium paid a hefty deposit on receipt of preferred bidder status and have since been funding the club’s losses on a fortnightly basis - to the tune of around £1m per month. The Star understands these payments are not to be refunded to the consortium as per the terms of the agreement. Player sales were made in January to guard against the loss of this cashflow should the bidder’s involvement in the process cease.
More to come.