Another twist in Newcastle United’s seemingly interminable takeover saga has seen Henry Mauriss, an American television executive, make a late, £350m bid to buy the club from Mike Ashley.
Given that is £50m more than the price a consortium comprising Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Reuben Brothers and Amanda Staveley has agreed with Newcastle’s owner, Mauriss’s offer is being regarded with a degree of scepticism.
With Ashley and the largely Saudi-funded consortium having exchanged contracts and the retail tycoon receiving a non-refundable £17m deposit, the new bid remains, for the moment at least, academic.
The only way Mauriss’s offer could succeed is if the Premier League vetoes the deal it has been considering for the best part of three months and the Saudi-led group then opt not to initiate legal action against the league.
Should their attempted buyout end up failing the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test and the consortium walk away, Mauriss – the 56-year-old, Los Angeles-based chief executive of Clear TV who is understood to believe he could take control at St James’ Park as early as September – would be free to finalise an agreement to end Ashley’s 13-year ownership of Newcastle.
Yet considering Ashley has signed an exclusivity deal with PIF, Reuben Brothers and Staveley, Mauriss’s September deadline seems ambitious. Legally, he will not be permitted to begin due diligence while hopes of a Saudi buyout are alive.
Even so, the emergence of this 11th-hour backup plan increases the pressure on Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive, to finally make a highly contentious and complex decision.
Masters’ dilemma is that the Saudi involvement is shrouded in controversy, prompting objections from human rights groups including Amnesty International and concerns about television broadcast piracy. On Tuesday a World Trade Organisation report found damning links between the kingdom and the facilitation of such piracy.
Although there was no specific reference to Newcastle or PIF, Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s position as PIF’s chairman dictates the Premier League has been investigating any links between it and intellectual property theft, namely the illegal streaming of Premier League matches.
As Qatar’s beIN Sport has a £500m overseas broadcast rights contract with England’s top tier the issue is particularly sensitive and has delayed the league’s verdict.
The WTO report found that “prominent Saudi nationals” promoted illegal broadcasts by the pirate network beoutQ, contradicting the kingdom’s previous claims that the platform, which used beIN footage, operated outside its sphere of influence.
Meanwhile Clear TV Ltd, established in California six years ago, operates a portfolio of television channels servicing airports, hospitals and social media outlets. Earlier in his career Mauriss established a credit card company, Credit America Corporation, but his exact wealth is unclear and he has never been involved in sport.
Ashley is believed to have established contact with Mauriss through the retail tycoon’s longstanding associate Justin Barnes, a lawyer turned corporate fixer who has been heavily involved in attempts to sell Newcastle.
With the UK government having, albeit discreetly, made encouraging noises about the Saudi-spearheaded takeover and the Premier League privately offering the consortium grounds for optimism at various points, sources close to the deal remain optimistic Masters will approve it in the fairly near future.
