TOON SALE BACK ON
Kenyon letter to Ashley resumes Newcastle takeover talks
PETER KENYON’S bid to buy Newcastle is not over, and he has contacted Mike Ashley personally with a promise to resume negotiations this month.
It was thought that the consortium led by Kenyon had given up on the deal, having failed to find the £300million funding required to tempt Newcastle’s owner to sell.
But a letter sent by Kenyon shortly before Christmas, and seen by
Sportsmail, makes it plain that discussions will continue and the sale is still on — with the former Chelsea and Manchester United executive in pole position. Sent via the club for Ashley’s personal attention, Kenyon writes of a ‘serious determination to finalise the agreement we have… as soon as possible in the New Year’. He adds: ‘I would like to personally assure you that I am committed to conclude our deal as soon as possible … we are both perhaps frustrated that we have not progressed as quickly as we would have wished.’
Ashley is coming under increasing pressure to sell, with eight fans’ groups writing a joint letter this week imploring him to conclude any deal swiftly, or invest transfer funds in the January window. There has been increasing scepticism on
Tyneside that talk of selling is merely a ruse by the owner to quell growing protests. A television interview that Ashley gave recently has been dismissed as a PR exercise to get the fans off his back, with claims that he is resistant to any sale. There were reports before Christmas that Kenyon’s consortium, which includes former Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook, were as much as one-third short of the asking price — a figure in the region of £100m. Yet what also emerges from Kenyon’s letter is that negotiations are long-standing and he remains Ashley’s preferred bidder. While not yet at an exclusivity stage, Kenyon certainly appears to have progressed further than a previous suitor, Amanda Staveley, whose takeover Ashley ultimately dismissed as ‘a waste of time’. In contrast, Kenyon writes: ‘I am delighted you think the investor group led by myself is the best fit. We have both spent many months discussing the parameters of a final deal… and have also invested heavily in time and money on our various legal and financial advisors.’ Kenyon concludes by thanking Ashley for his patience, with a hope for further negotiations in the new year. The problem, once again, is in the timing. If Kenyon’s deal cannot be completed before the January transfer window closes — and, for all the good intentions, there is nothing in the letter to suggest it will be — this still leaves Newcastle in limbo, with Ashley unlikely to invest further if he is selling, and any new investor unable to raise sufficient funds in time to make the necessary shortterm impact. Newcastle are just two points off the relegation places and the biggest fear is that the manager, Rafa Benitez, will tire of the process before either Ashley or Kenyon and make up his mind to leave in the summer.