Potential buyers of Newcastle emerge

The takeover of Newcastle United is gathering pace, with two potential buyers emerging.

Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov is monitoring the Magpies’ situation, while progress has been made on Amanda Staveley and PCP Capital Partners’ potential bid.

A report in the Financial Times stated that Staveley “was due to meet Newcastle representatives on Tuesday, according to one person briefed on talks”.

That comes after Reuters’ news outlet earlier claimed Staveley valued United at around $400million (£303.7million) and was indeed “interested” in bidding to purchase the Magpies from Mike Ashley, who put the club up for sale on Monday night.

Staveley is thought to be one of four interested parties, although the FT report states that any sale before Christmas – a timescale set by Ashley’s lawyer Andrew Henderson yesterday – is said to be “a tall order”.

It goes on to note that owner Ashley sees the worth of the club between £300-400million, with a further £200million required to strengthen the squad.

Reuters claim that Staveley believes the club would need around £150million of investment in the playing budget, over the next two years.

Four potential investors have signed non-disclosure agreements with the club, which is a legal contract preventing the sharing of confidential material or information with third parties.

Meanwhile, billionaire Prokhorov is looking to invest in the lucrative Premier League, and has kept a keen eye on developments on Tyneside for some time.

Prokhorov is keen to sell NBA basketball side Brooklyn Nets, whom he only bought in December 2015 for $1.7billion.

His estimated worth is £7billion. Prokhorov, unable to sell a minority stake in the Nets, plans to offload a controlling stake in the team.

As yet, it’s not known if there has been any contact between Newcastle and representatives of the precious metals magnate.