By Mark Baber
April 20 – The investors who took the plunge to save Swansea City in 2002 are poised for a multi-million return on their investments following a valuation of the club putting it at £100 million. On April 9 a Swansea City club statement said that US investors Steve Kaplan, Jason Levein and their investment group are finalising an agreement to take a controlling interest in Welsh club.
The nine shareholders, including the Swansea City Supporters Trust, who in January 2002 paid just £1 million to take over the club, with the shares costing just £20,000 and the rest of the money used to pay off debt.
From struggling in the Football League, the club is now firmly entrenched in the Premier League and joint tenant of the local council owned £27 million Liberty Stadium. With record TV revenues imminent next season, the club has become an obvious target for US sports investors and the current owners will shortly see benefits to their investments which it would have been impossible to imagine when they were first made.
According to a report in the Guardian, chairman Huw Jenkins, who is expected to stay on in a management role, will see his 13.2% stake (which cost him £125,000) valued at £13.2 million – although he will probably not sell all his shares.
Local hotelier Martin Morgan and his wife are the largest shareholders with a 23.7% stake, which cost £225,000 to buy and which is now valued at £23.7 million. According to the Guardian, Martin Morgan is unwilling to sell whereas his wife, who owns half the stake in her own right is.
Other investors to benefit include Brian Katzen, Jeffrey Crevoiserat, Robert Davies, John van Zweden, and Leigh Dineen, all of whom stand to achieve multi-millionaire status.
The Supporter’s Trust owns 21.1% of the club but was kept unaware of negotiations for the sale, much to the chagrin of director Huw Cooze, whose main concern now is that the deal brings more money into the club, rather than just into the pockets of the original investors.
Meanwhile, although Swansea City have said the aim of current talks is for “an agreement being ratified by the end of the season,” little is known about the group making the take-over, other than the principle drivers appear to be Levein, a lawyer who is the managing general partner of DC United and who has been involved in three NBA basketball franchises, and Kaplan, the principal of Oaktree Capital investment fund.
According to Wales Online, the US group have said told the Swansea Board they want to stay in South Wales for the next decade, that they will be providing further investment into the playing squad and club infrastructure and that eight unnamed partners in the group will be silent partners.
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