Gold family agree to sell West Ham stake to consortium led by Amanda Staveley
· Yahoo Sports
Vanessa Gold, daughter of former West Ham chair David Gold, has reached an agreement to sell her family's shares in the club to a consortium led by Amanda Staveley, the former co-owner of Newcastle.
The Gold family trust owns 25.1% of the shares in the Championship club, who were relegated from the Premier League last season.
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“I have now reached an agreement to sell my family's shareholding to a consortium of PCP Capital Partners, led by Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, in partnership with Ashland Forest Capital Partners,” Gold said in a statement on Saturday.
“This sale remains subject to a pre-emption process, under which existing shareholders have the option to buy the shares instead.
“While the process has not yet concluded, I wanted to be open with our fans about where things stand and my intentions.”
David Sullivan is the club's biggest shareholder, with 38.8%. Czech businessman Daniel Kretinsky, through 1890s Holdings, owns 27% and would have become the majority shareholder had an agreement to buy a 16% portion of the Gold family's shares gone through.
“On the 12th June Daniel Kretinsky and I agreed a sale ... unfortunately, since that time the original deal and other alternatives that we have discussed could not be brought to fruition,” Gold said.
A spokesperson for Kretinsky released a statement in response which read: “The agreement we had reached with the Gold family in June provided stability for the club at a crucial time. Today's announcement does the opposite.
“We will always act in the best interests of West Ham United and are reviewing all of our options, including exercising our pre-emption rights in full.”
Staveley and her firm PCP Capital Partners had played a key role in helping Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) take over Newcastle in 2021, with the businesswoman and herhusband Ghodoussi shareholders until 2024.
“The Consortium will bring deep experience and understanding of what it takes to lead a successful football club, and I have every confidence in what they can bring to West Ham,” Gold added.
David Gold was joint chairman of the Hammers for 13 years alongside business partner David Sullivan. Gold died in 2023.
Reuters