ARL in line to buy Warriors

The New Zealand Warriors may be sold to Auckland Rugby League, according to a report.

On April 2, it was reported Hawaii-based businessman Richard Fale’s consortium would be the new owners of the Warriors after reaching a verbal agreement with current owner Eric Watson.

But the New Zealand Herald reported on Sunday that the ARL would swoop in and buy the team with the help of the Carlaw Park Heritage Trust.

The deal was said to be ‘‘99 per cent complete’’.

The report said a formal announcement would be made next week.

Almost the exact same line came out after Fale’s group reached their verbal agreement, but until everything has been officially confirmed, all options remain on the table.

Fale was said to be travelling to New Zealand last week to finalise the sale.

‘‘We’re tying up the loose ends here,’’ Fale said on April 22.

‘‘It still looks like we’re on track and things will go down the way we expected.’’

Fale said he and Watson’s Cullen Investments, were down to sorting out the nitty gritty details of the purchase of the club.

‘‘It’s tweaks here and there to the purchase agreement,’’ Fale said.

‘‘We sent over a draft that we’re happy with, they’re reviewing it again and we expect them to submit back to us some time soon, probably early next week.’’

Fale also said he had a big falling out with ARL chairman Cameron McGregor.

The saga has been going on since last August, when Auckland businessman Paul Davys put in an offer of what was believed to be $15 million for the club.

It was reported at the time that Watson was looking for $20m and the final price of the Warriors is understood to be closer to $24m.

Negotiations between Fale’s group and Watson’s Cullen Investments weren’t smooth sailing.

Fale wanted to do an asset acquisition, which would have involved his consortium buying all the individual parts of the Warriors, but Watson was looking for a share sale, in which the club along with its assets and liabilities would be taken over.

ARL didn’t have a problem with a share sale.

Even though they were offering less money than Fale’s group, the simplicity of the sale this way appealed to Watson.

The ARL had been interested in reacquiring the Warriors for some time.

They initially made a joint bid with the Waipareira Trust and were granted an exclusivity agreement to buy the Warriors.

But when the Waipareira Trust pulled out, those negotiations collapsed and the exclusivity agreement ended.

They then launched another bid and saw ownership as part of a bigger plan to rejuvenate the sport in Auckland and also set up a semi-professional league.

There were short-lived talks with Fale’s group regarding a joint bid, and relations between them have been frosty ever since.

The ARL had been in discussions with former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe – a part owner of the Warriors in the 1990s – and former CEO Wayne Scurrah.

If either the ARL or Fale’s group’s bid is eventually successful, approval from the NRL would be needed to buy the club, but this should be a formality.