Kirchner: A day I will never forget as contracts exchanged
AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN STARTING TO FUND CLUB, WITH COMPLETION OF DEAL TARGETED BEFORE MAY 31
CHRIS Kirchner says he “will be the next owner of Derby County”.
The American businessman has exchanged contracts on a takeover of the club with the Rams’ administrators, Quantuma.
He has made it clear the contracts are subject to Mel Morris selling Pride Park Stadium but insists he does not “anticipate any issues” – and expects to complete his takeover within the next few days.
“I’ve been beyond fortunate and I’ll never forget how lucky I am,” said Kirchner, in a Twitter post late on Monday night.
“I’ve had the opportunity to realise many of my dreams and even a lot of things beyond my dreams.
“Today is a day I’ll never forget. I’m humbled and excited to share that we’ve exchanged contracts with Quantuma and I will be the next owner of Derby County Football Club.
“These contracts are conditional on the sale of the stadium and some small bits.
“I don’t anticipate any issues completing the rest of this process in the coming days. I’ll begin funding the club next week.
“The membership agreement with the EFL is agreed to, we have filed with the FA to recognise the transfer and my team is now moving forward on the process to rebuild this iconic club.
“This has been a traumatic period for everyone and I can say that I hope this is the most difficult transaction I have to complete for a very long time.
“Thank you to so many of you for the kind words and support through this process. Tomorrow is the first day of a new journey together and I cannot be more excited to be a Ram.”
Quantuma issued a statement yesterday morning, saying: “During the course of the week since our last update, further significant progress has been made.
“As a result of this progress, the joint administrators can confirm that they have exchanged contracts for the sale of the business and assets of the club with preferred bidder, Chris Kirchner.
“Completion is targeted for on or before 31 May 2022. This is a very significant step towards the completion of a sale of the club.
“In addition, the joint administrators can confirm that in the interim period between exchange and completion, funding for the club is being provided by Mr Kirchner, in a demonstration of his ongoing commitment to securing the long-term future of the club.
“The exchanging of contracts is conditional on the sale of the stadium, EFL approval and receiving secured creditor consent.
“The period of time between exchange and completion will allow the joint administrators and all relevant stakeholders the time required to work together to meet the conditions required to complete this very complex transaction.
“The joint administrators would like to express their thanks to all relevant stakeholders for their co-operation and work towards achieving a successful completion.”
Meanwhile, Kirchner says his company will not be the shirt sponsor for the Rams once the takeover is completed.
He is the owner of logistics company Slync.io and a Rams supporter used social media to ask Kirchner whether the company would be the new shirt sponsor.
“No... not on strategy for Slync,” Kirchner replied.
“I think shirt sponsorships are more fruitful for consumer brands. Derby will be a great partner for anyone that wants to work with us.”
He added that he “would love to be more involved with two of the largest employers in Derby,” when asked about the possibility of Rollsroyce or Bombardier getting involved.
“Both great companies,” he added.