Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Where are the Blue and White Knights?

I do another blog, here, about murders and executions. Sorry, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. The latest is about Blackburn Rovers. The asking price has been slashed but it still seems beyond the reach of wealthy Rovers fans willing to have a go. I rang one today to see what he thought. He was at Cheltenham, with another of that crowd.

Anyway, here's a flavour:

Conversations have taken place consistently over the last five years since the Jersey-based trustees of the Walker family put the club up for sale. As is the case with all football takeover activity a number of chancers and charlatans have appeared from time to time, but no credible bid for the business has been tabled, and certainly none have been seriously considered.

Expressions of interest have come from wealthy individuals from India, China and most recently from Abu Dhabi. But even at £25m there is no-one in the executive fan base with the means, or the will, to step into those large Walker shoes.

As a business Blackburn Rovers Football and Athletic plc has turnover of £53m. It has the strong possibility of being able to sustain Premier League football through the next cycle of television deals. The problem for a purchaser is there’s actually very little upside. By common consent the club is well run, has no massive debts now that the Walker investment of the 1990s has been rolled over into equity.

A link to the full piece is here.

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