Sheffield Wednesday set investment deadline and strengthens board
SHEFFIELD Wednesday today announced that it aims to have a major investment deal in place within three months as it unveiled two new directors who will advise the board on the potential deal.
Lee Strafford, the former co-founder and chief executive of the Championship club’s shirt sponsor PlusNet, will join the board until the March 31 deadline the club has set to achieve the major new injection of funds which it said will provide a long-term way of “taking the club forward”.
Mr Strafford, 36, who has experience of fund-raising from the professional investing community and working with companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange and the US NASDAQ, will be joined by Nick Parker, 48, the former chief financial officer of Sheffield-based specialist materials business Dyson Group, who has more than 20 years experience in fundraising and finance.
Sheffield Wednesday’s board, who faced fans at the club’s annual general meeting at the city’s Cutlers’ Hall last night, said that they had made “significant progress” in its long search for new investment.
The club, which has £25m of debt and home gates at an eight-year low of 15,000, has developed a business plan to help attract investment and the move signals that a takeover of the club by Lancashire businessman Geoff Sheard is now off.
This morning Sheffield Wednesday said in a stock market announcement: “At this stage the board can confirm that negotiations are at an early stage with a number of interested parties, who have the resources and desire to invest in and thereby move the club forward. Whilst these discussions are ongoing, there can be no certainty that a formal proposal capable of being presented to shareholders will be forthcoming.”
The board said that it had reached agreement with the club’s biggest creditor Co-operative Bank, as well as the potential investors, loan note holders and key shareholders Dave Allen and Keith Addy who each hold a 10% stake, to work towards a March 31 deadline.
