Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley yesterday officially put the club up for sale £100 million, £300 million less than the asking price just over half a year ago.
The sale of the club was advertised in a small statement on the team's website. Ashley tried to sell the club for £400 million last September but could not find a buyer.
“The board of Newcastle United can today confirm that the club is for sale at the price of 100 million,” said the statement. “Interested parties should contact Newcastle United at admin@nufc.co.uk (or Keith Harris at [investment bankers] Seymour Pierce) for further details.”
Ashley bought the club for £134 million and ploughed in another £100 million of his own money to pay off debts. Last month Ashley said he had made "terrible decisions" in the running of the club.
Fellow Premier League club West Ham United has been bought for an undisclosed sum by CB Holding, a unit of Iceland's bailed out Straumur-Burdaras bank, the Premier League club said on Monday.
"It will be my job to help facilitate this continued progress on the pitch, while ensuring the club's success is built on a strong financial footing," said Andrew Bernhardt, a senior director at Straumur, who will become the club's new non-executive chairman. "We have an initial two-year plan which includes improving the infrastructure at the club and we will be getting to work on this as soon as the new board is appointed."
The takeover follows the collapse of the business empire of former owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, who bought West Ham in 2006 for around £85 million and had borrowed heavily from the Straumur. On Friday Straumur asked its creditors for a six-month delay in servicing and repaying its debt to have more time to secure an agreement with lenders.
