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Sheffield Wednesday 'still open to takeover offers'

07/05/2008

Championship club Sheffield Wednesday has confirmed it is still open to takeover offers after making an initial announcement last week.

The Owls have reportedly been in negotiations with a number of interested parties over the past few months, including an unnamed potential buyer in February and a consortium headed by businessman Geoff Sheard.

According to estimates, the club currently has debts of around £27 million and the current directors are keen to sell up to a group with a new vision and direction.

In an announcement to the Stock Exchange today, the club said they have "still not received any offer proposal from any party that is sufficiently clear or developed" and is awaiting further approaches.

"The board continues to be open to dialogue with any bona fide offeror and to working to develop any acceptable proposal such that it can be presented to the company's shareholders for their consideration," the announcement continued.

"While certain discussions are still ongoing, there can be no certainty that a formal offer to shareholders will be forthcoming.

"As a result, the board have now requested that its financial adviser, Deloitte, actively seeks a buyer that shares the board's vision for the long-term success of the club.

"If a buyer is found and its terms are acceptable to the board then that party would be required to make an offer to all shareholders subject to the City code on takeovers and mergers for the entire issued share capital of the company."

However, this statement of intent was tempered by the club, saying "there is no certainty that such a party will be found at this time".

Sheffield Wednesday were once one of the foremost teams in the English leagues, with one of the largest stadia in the country – Hillsborough.

However, since being relegated from the Premier League in 2000 the club has fallen on hard times - spending two seasons in the third tier of the Football League between 2003 and 2005.