Mr Sugar would be unlikely to turn down a takeover bid from a media suitor
Posted in General on 30. Jul, 2010
Mr Sugar would be unlikely to turn down a takeover bid from a media suitor valuing Tottenham at about pounds 120m, giving him a personal profit of pounds 50m.. Mr Sugar and others feared Maxwell, as owner of Tottenham, would veto Sky’s bid for Premier League football and swing other chairmen behind a close rival bid from ITV. Everton is ripe for development and Mr Johnson may now be grooming the club for a possible pounds 100m flotation.Alan SugarTottenham Hotspur plcOriginal stake: controlling 47.5% bought for pounds 8m in 1992Market cap now: pounds 65m (1996 peak pounds 100m)Current stake: 40%Value of stake: pounds 26mShares cashed: pounds 7mTotal gain so far: pounds 25mPossible suitors: LWT/Carlton/ NTL/Telewest/United News & MediaValue to media co: pounds 120-pounds 150mBought into Tottenham in 1992 partly as a negative play to stop a Robert Maxwell takeover. Talks collapsed after the MMC ruled against Sky.Peter JohnsonEverton FC (unlisted)Original stake: pounds 20m, 1994-1997, including rights issueMarket cap now: unlisted, but estimated about pounds 80mCurrent stake: 66%Value of stake: pounds 52m (est)Total gain so far: pounds 32m (in 3 yrs)Possible suitors: Granada recently bought 10% stake in Liverpool valuing it at pounds 200m .Value to media co: pounds 125m-pounds 150mPeter Johnson, life-long Liverpool supporter and a late arrival on the gravy train, made his fortune selling mail-order Christmas hampers. He became an Arsenal director in 1992, when the club was set to boom, upped his stake in 1996, and last year sold a block of Psion shares for pounds 14m – using part of the cash to raise his holding in the club to 29 per cent.When Sky was bidding for Man U, Carlton opened negotiations to take a big stake in Arsenal, based on a rumoured pounds 275m valuation Mr Fiszman stood to gain pounds 75m; Mr Dein, pounds 55m.
But by 1991, ahead of the Premier League launch and the Sky rights deal, Mr Dein had upped this to 42 per cent – for under pounds 10m. If he’d been able to hold on to this stake, it would be worth at least pounds 60m. But in the early 1990s he sold shares to an old business associate, Danny Fiszman, to bail out his other businesses.A South African-born diamond dealer with an estimated pounds 100m fortune, excluding his Arsenal stake, Mr Fiszman holds a string of directorships and a pounds 20m stake in Psion. He’s since led the way in importing foreign stars on vast salaries.Sam HammamWimbledon FC (unlisted)Original stake: pounds 100,000 to buy control of private firm, 1981Market cap now: unfloated firm, valued at around pounds 35m, 1997Current stake: 20%Value of stake: pounds 5m (est)Shares cashed: pounds 30m (est)Total gain so far: pounds 34.9mPossible suitors: Regional ITV and cable operatorsValue to media co: pounds 50-pounds 75mSam Hamman is one of a clutch of businessmen at smaller clubs – including Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion – who’ve scooped millions from flotations or sales of stakes.David Dein, Danny Fiszman, Richard CarrArsenal plc (Ofex listed)Original stake: around pounds 10m as a group by 1996Market cap now: pounds 156.8mCurrent stake: 70% (combined holding by all three, plus board)Value of stake: around pounds 110mTotal gain so far: pounds 30-pounds 35m eachPossible suitors: Recent talks with both Carlton and United News & MediaValue to media co: pounds 275-pounds 300mDavid Dein, who made a fortune in wholesale fruit, bought 1,161 unissued Arsenal shares for pounds 300,000 in 1983, giving him a 16.6 per cent stake Arsenal’s chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, said he was “mad”.
Last year, cable company NTL bought a 6.3 per cent stake for pounds 10m, valuing Newcastle at pounds 160m.Ken BatesChelsea (Village) plcOriginal stake: Nominal pounds 1 plus assigned debt, 1982Market cap now: pounds 113m (1997 peak pounds 172m)Current stake: 23.5%Value of stake: pounds 26.6mTotal gain so far: pounds 26.6mPossible suitors: Sky/Telewest/ NTL/Carlton/LWT-GranadaValue to media co: pounds 250-pounds 300mKen Bates, a dairy farmer used to herding cows, was once notorious for installing a 12v electric fence to cage supporters at Chelsea’s stadium Local authorities would not let him turn it on. In the 1980s he acquired a disused ash-pit in Gateshead and built the Metro Centre, Europe’s largest retail centre. In 1992 he spent pounds 3m buying Newcastle United, then on the point of liquidation He also took on debt of pounds 6m A float followed, netting Sir John pounds 100m. Aston Villa was floated in May 1997 at the height of City football mania He sold a tranche of shares at flotation for pounds 4m. His remaining stake was over pounds 40m after flotation, but has declined along with share price.Sir John Hall(ex) Newcastle United plcOriginal stake: pounds 3m, 1992Market cap now:pounds 109mShares cashed:pounds 102mTotal gain:pounds 99mPossible suitors: NTL/Tyne-Tees/United News & Media (NTL has 6.3%)Value to media co: pounds 200m-pounds 250mJohn Hall began as a coal board surveyor, coming to appreciate the value locked up in the industry’s land holdings.
He had resigned, selling all his shares, in 1975 after a boardroom spat. Had the Sky deal gone ahead he would have pocketed pounds 88m, taking his total gains to pounds 120m.Doug EllisAston Villa plcOriginal stake: pounds 500,000, 1982Market cap now: pounds 64mCurrent stake: 33.6% (pounds 21.5m)Shares cashed: pounds 4mTotal gain so far: pounds 25mPossible suitors: Central-Carlton/ NTL/TelewestValue to media co: pounds 100m-pounds 150mIn 1982 Mr Ellis bought control for an estimated pounds 500,000 (he won’t confirm a figure) after an earlier spell as a shareholder and director. He became chief executive the next year and has earned pounds 500,000 a year in dividends and salary since then. She will have to decide quickly if she wants regulation, perhaps treating the industry as something akin to a public utility with some sort of “Offoot” looking at ticket prices and pay-TV deals.