Shepherd Sells

Confirmation this morning that Freddy Shepherd has sold his shareholdings in Newcastle United football club leaving Mike Ashley with a 70% holding in the club and only needing 5% more to gain full control of the club. The following statement was released to the stock market this morning.

Recommended Cash Offer by St James Holdings Limited for
Newcastle United PLC

On 23 May 2007, St James Holdings Limited (”SJHL”) announced that it had acquired 55,342,223 Newcastle United PLC (”Newcastle United”, the “Company” or the “Club”) shares, representing approximately 41.6 per cent. of the issued share capital of Newcastle United, from members of Sir John Hallâ€™s family at a price of 100 pence for each Newcastle United share.

In accordance with the provisions of Rule 9 of the Takeover Code, SJHL also announced that it intended to make a cash offer for all of the issued and to be issued share capital of Newcastle United which was not already owned by SJHL, and that SJHL intended to seek a recommendation of the offer from the board of Newcastle United.

Further to that announcement, SJHL and Newcastle United are pleased to announce that they have agreed the terms of a recommended cash offer by SJHL for all of the issued and to be issued share capital of Newcastle United not already held by SJHL or any party acting in concert with SJHL at an offer price of 101 pence per Newcastle United share (the “Offer”). The board of Newcastle United has unanimously recommended that Newcastle United shareholders accept the Offer.

Irrevocable undertakings

SJHL has received irrevocable undertakings from Shepherd Offshore Limited, a company connected with William Frederick Shepherd and Bruce Stewart Shepherd, and Timothy Revill, the independent non-executive director of Newcastle United, to accept the Offer in respect of a total of 37,288,959 Newcastle United shares representing, in aggregate, approximately 28.0 per cent. of the existing issued share capital of Newcastle United. These undertakings will cease to be binding only if the Offer lapses or is withdrawn and will remain binding in the event that a higher competing offer for Newcastle United is made.

Commenting on the offer, Freddy Shepherd, Chairman of Newcastle United, said:

“The time since Newcastleâ€™s flotation in 1997 has seen a radical transformation in the Club and its fortunes, with the Club now being one of the 20 wealthiest clubs in Europe with one of the finest stadiums in European football, a premier league participant and a regular participant in European UEFA competitions with a fantastic fan base.â€

“The offer from SJHL is at a level which fully reflects both the performance of Newcastle and its prospects and ambitions for the future. The Board believes that SJHL and Mike Ashley will be excellent custodians of Newcastle Unitedâ€™s heritage and will provide the best possible opportunity for the Club to flourish in the future, to the benefit of the Company and its fans.”

SJHL intends to post the offer document in respect of the Offer and the form of acceptance to Newcastle United shareholders on 7 June 2007.

More details can be found right here.

As yet unconfirmed reports suggest Shepherd will stay on as Chairman but with a smaller role to play than previous years. And with the negotiating skills he currently holds to get a whole extra 1p from Mike Ashley, dare we let him go at all.

15 Responses to “ Shepherd Sells ”

Your Comments:

greatal writes in saying:

for once in your life, fred, get your brains right!!!!!!!!!!!! let Ashley take control and I really hope Mr Dein does come in and replace your position!!!!!!!!!! Then weâ€™d be right back amongst the top4 again!!!!!!!!!!come champions league football again, just like the KK and Robson Era=)))))))))))

Sent in on: June 8th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

Dev writes in saying:

Please dont think shephard has done this for the toon. Just last week he was trying everything in his power to stop the move. He was aware he couldnâ€™t win the battle against ashley. Freddys just there for now until ashley works out exactly what he needs to run the club then itâ€™s bye bye freddy.

Sent in on: June 8th, 2007 at 12:22 pm

alan writes in saying:

come off it lads you seriously think ashley spends all this dosh and lets shepherd still have any say in anything, it a token gesture on behalf of ashley to let fred walk away in about a year with some credit, get serious will ye , use your heeds, ashley knew exactly how to handle the whole affair, now lets hope under new control this club starts to behave as it should have been doing for the past 50 years, professional on and off the pitch,good luck sam and ashley i hope youve got the club at heart.

Sent in on: June 8th, 2007 at 9:56 am

davy hill of high howdon& Nth Shields writes in saying:

i hope that ashley gives him no say in the future of the club, because shepherd was directly responsible for all of the disasters we call managers Gullit, Souness etc., good riddance

Sent in on: June 8th, 2007 at 8:33 am

chris barnes writes in saying:

thank god for that!! only thing is apparently freddy might carry on as chairman, except mike ashley owns the club???!!! isnt that just the same except we have more money for shepherd to piss up the wall?

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 5:50 pm

Billy Smith writes in saying:

Its about time too!

While I donâ€™t doubt Shepherd had his heart in the right place, too often his judgement and timing were well wide of the mark The result has been bad appointments, millions squandered and no real stability over a sustained period of time.

We need a new direction that, hopefully, Ashley will provide.

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 4:53 pm

Tod writes in saying:

Is true that David Dein will be our next target! He was great in Arsenal!

Whatever, thank you very much Shepherd, i know that you love this club, but you were really unlycky with managers choices and there is a new era in football, when you need more than millions to challenge the others

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 3:27 pm

Ã…smund writes in saying:

Thank you. It was the best to do!

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

Mike writes in saying:

no no no!!!!!!!!!!!

heâ€™s NOT done anything right - heâ€™s got his cash and heâ€™s hanging around like a bad smell, trying to take some of the credit as usual - and no doubt having alan oliver try to get such spin across though the chronicle.

of course this is progress but itâ€™s not good enough. letâ€™s just hope that when the club comes off the stock market that ashley gets rid of the “chairman” asap - for the benefit of the club.

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 2:44 pm

Dave Clark writes in saying:

At last, the news all real toon fans have been waiting for since the takover was anounced a couple of weeks ago. Now we can hopefully get on with the business of getting the dross out (Babayaro & Carr for example) and bringing in player who will wear the shirt with pride and give 100% to the club.

Look out “Big 4″ it is about to become the Big 5 again.

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

Chris writes in saying:

thank you freddie, youâ€™ve done the right thing, (for once)

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

Chris writes in saying:

Hooray!!!

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 12:23 pm

johnnnn writes in saying:

thankyou fred.. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sent in on: June 7th, 2007 at 12:10 pm

andy writes in saying: