A takeover specific Fans’ Forum took place at The Valley this evening. This followed the last takeover update at the Fans' Forum at the end of November.
The Fans’ Forum meet every three months and is made up of fan representatives. To find out more about the Fans’ Forum and contacting your fan representatives click here.
Since July, takeover specific Fans' Forum meetings have taken place in-between each meeting to keep fans updated with progress. Notes on the previous meetings can be found here.
Tonight's meeting was attended by members of the Fans' Forum, club staff and Lieven De Turck (LDT), who is representing the club in takeover talks. The below notes were produced by the club and approved by fan representatives at the meeting. The below references an update from LDT. Following the update there was a Q&A session, notes from the Q&A will be published this week.
LDT updated on the five parties mentioned at the previous meeting.
First party (Groups linked to the Australian consortium)
LDT confirmed that he was on the conference call mentioned by Talksport presenter Jim White earlier in the week. He said the call, which took place on Monday, included people from Australia and the United States and was to get clarification on where the group are with the deal.
He said nothing was confirmed on the call about the takeover date. He said the main message from the call was that the complexity of their group has been reduced, which he is pleased about.
LDT was asked if he thought the group actually had the money. He said he believes they do have the money.
LDT confirmed that, as with previous meetings, the remaining documents required for a deal to be completed are still not lodged with the EFL. LDT was asked if financial documents had been lodged with the EFL for the group. He said the financial documents are still to be lodged with the EFL.
He was asked if the deal would be split with the Australians taking the footballing side and the Americans taking the lands assets. LDT said it is the same deal that was agreed last year, one group would have all the shares.
LDT was asked if a group were shown around the training ground at the end of December. He said they were, it was a person linked to the group, who is Australian.
LDT was asked if the Australians had exclusivity. He confirmed no party has exclusivity.
Second party (British)
LDT said the reporting of Jim White had made the second party aware that they might miss out on the deal and had “put them into sixth gear”.
He said they have taken their time and not been rushed by the Australians and now if they want the club they have to come up with the money.
Third party (Europeans)
LDT said that at the last Fans’ Forum the group were going to meet to discuss putting an offer on the table. He said since then no offer has been put on the table which means they are unlikely to be the new owners.
Fourth party (Europeans)
At the last meeting it was said they had to show proof of funds. LDT said they have still not shown proof of funds.
Fifth party
The group are close to agreeing price and conditions. He said their due diligence is not complete but runs in parallel.
Following the update there was a Q&A session, notes of this will be published this week.
The next Fans’ Forum is set for February 20th 2019.