Kieran Maguire: £9m blockage may be preventing full Sunderland takeover
A £9million loan secured by Stewart Donald in 2019 could be stopping Kyril Louis-Dreyfus from acquiring a majority share in Sunderland.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Black Cats’ ownership structure.
Louis-Dreyfus bought into Sunderland in February last year but has been opaque about his exact shareholding in the club.
The Athletic reported last Tuesday (15 February) that he owns just 41 per cent, while the previous Madrox regime still retains 59 per cent.
Madrox chief Donald took out a £9m loan in November 2019 from a company called FPP Sunderland, which is financed by MSD Partners.
And the terms of that loan may have prevented Donald from offloading all of his equity in the club to Louis-Dreyfus, suggests Maguire.
“There could be one other issue at play here,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“We don’t know the exact nature of the Madrox loans and involvement of MSD Holdings in all of this.
“It could be that MSD have said that if there was a majority takeover then the outstanding loans become repayable immediately.
“So the structure of the deal could have been a way of avoiding that. Madrox may have wanted to avoid going down that route of repayment.“
New manager Alex Neil will take charge of his first game at the Stadium of Light as Sunderland face Milton Keynes Dons today (19 February).
The Black Cats are 4th in League One.
In other news, Kevin Phillips “gutted” by Sunderland announcement as Kevin Ball exit details emerge.