Stefan Borson: This is how long it will take to finalise new Sheffield Wednesday takeover deal
Sheffield Wednesday will have to wait at least four weeks before a new takeover deal can be finalised.
That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider any party who could face issues passing the owners’ and directors’ test is likely to be out of the running.
It comes after a consortium led by James Bord withdrew from the process last week despite being granted exclusivity by the club’s administrators in December following his £47.8million offer.
It is understood three parties remain interested in buying Sheffield Wednesday, including former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.
The Owls have already been relegated from the Championship after being deducted 18 points this season.
What Sheffield Wednesday administrators have said about takeover process
Bord has lost more than £4m of his own following his attempt to take over at Hillsborough.
The former professional poker player paid a £2.5m non-returnable deposit when he was given preferred bidder status, while he’s put forward more than £1.5m to fund the club’s day-to-day operations.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson discussed where Sheffield Wednesday stand after Bord has pulled out of the running.
“There’s an urgency,” said Borson.
“I mean, the administrators have said publicly that they’ve got enough money to get to the end of the season. Of course, the implicit statement there is that beyond the end of season, they don’t have enough money, and that’s the challenge, so the clock is ticking.
“We are in March. Even the quickest deal is going to take let’s say four weeks, so you’re going to at least the beginning of April, even the quickest. There’s very little leeway for an elongated process. I think what’s going to happen now is that any bidder who has got any kind of issue getting through an owners’ and directors’ test is basically out.
“I don’t think the administrator could take any risk now of going through with another party, no matter how much they were putting on the table frankly, that was then going to be rejected.”
Why Sheffield Wednesday adminstrators accepted James Bord offer
Borson insisted it made sense for the administrators to hand Bord preferred bidder status due to Sheffield Wednesday’s financial situation.
“I understand why they would have gone with the Bord bid originally because, ultimately, the Bord situation de-risked it for the administrator by paying the bills,” said Borson.
“They gave them a big chunky deposit. They also paid the bills for January, and the only reason that they stopped was because they didn’t want to pay any more of the bills for February. I think in the context where they were probably not going to get approval by the regulator.
“I mean, we don’t know that because they said that they were fine on the regulation side, but obviously it was dragging on and, at some point, you have to say enough is enough.
“It’s a strange way to spend £4m-plus, but they’ve done that and that’s to the benefit of Sheffield Wednesday and the administrator because it’s an enormous amount of money. It’s paid the bills.”
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