Leeds takeover bid collapses

David Haigh had hoped to take over Leeds United with Sport Capital
30 January 2014

The consortium hoping to complete a takeover of Leeds this month have confirmed the deal has collapsed.

Sport Capital, headed by the club's current managing director David Haigh and Andrew Flowers, the managing director of their main sponsors, Enterprise Insurance, had agreed the terms of a buy-out with owners Gulf Finance House on November 30.

But talks between the two parties reached an impasse when Sport Capital submitted a revised offer for 75 per cent of the club's shares after completing due diligence and Haigh has now revealed some financial backers were unable to deliver.

Haigh said in a statement: "As fans know, we signed a share acquisition agreement with GFH Capital at the end of last year. This meant, I believed, that we were in a position to move things forward and complete the transaction in time for the January transfer window.

"Throughout every stage of the process we sought to keep fans as fully updated as possible on the progress of the negotiations.

"I can personally assure each and every supporter that every public statement made regarding the acquisition was made in the utmost good faith.

"Unfortunately, however, some of the consortium's backers ultimately didn't feel able to deliver the financial backing we had hoped was agreed to take the club forward.

"Despite this, the future of this club remains the most important thing to me personally and I remain totally committed to putting the right team and backing in place to ensure that Leeds United can move forward."

Haigh, who joined the board at Elland Road when GFH completed their takeover at Elland Road in December 2012, is still hoping to attract new investors.

Cagliari owner Massimo Cellino has been in talks with the club in recent weeks. His representatives have been seen at the club's Thorp Arch training complex and reports in Italy said he was close to completing a takeover.

Another British consortium is also keen to take control of Leeds, who are searching for the right backers to help lift them back to the top flight for the first time in 10 years.

Former managing director of Manchester United International Mike Farnan heads a British-based group who had an offer turned down in November.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT