SOCCER:AHSAN ALI SYED is expected to complete the due diligence process into his proposed €359 million takeover of Blackburn Rovers this week amid allegations he has several unpaid debts in Britain.
The Bahrain-based Indian businessman hopes to purchase Rovers from the Walker Trust by the end of this month having signed a one-month exclusivity period to study the club’s books. Syed said recently he owned “more than 130 companies and publicly my assets are worth more than £8 billion (€9.5bn)”, and promised Blackburn’s manager, Sam Allardyce, a €144 million transfer budget should he gain control, but he was unable to complete due diligence before the original target of last week’s transfer deadline.
It has since emerged Syed’s investment company in Bahrain, Western Gulf Advisory, was forced to cease trading by the country’s Minister of Industry and Commerce due to an investigation into its “source of funding”. The 36-year-old says he is cooperating fully with that process and his bid to buy Blackburn is unaffected as that is led by his Switzerland-based company, Western Gulf Advisory-AG.
A report by the BBC’s 5 Live Investigates team has accused Syed of leaving a trail of unpaid debt when he lived in England between 2001 and 2005.
The businessman did not cooperate with the BBC investigation and his spokesperson was unavailable for comment yesterday but Rovers did respond to concerns over their potential new owner:
“The club has been for sale for some time and, for it to remain competitive in one of the world’s toughest sporting competitions, we accept that new investment is required. Equally, the trustees of the late Jack Walker, who are being professionally advised, and the club’s board of directors are acutely aware of the responsibility involved in passing the club to a new owner.”
Blackburn would make no further comment on Syed’s interest but its trustees, who have run the club since Walker, its former benefactor, died in 2000, have appointed the investment bankers Rothschild to conduct the sales process. Rothschild will carry out its own investigations into Syed’s financial background, or that of any prospective owner, before the Blackburn trustees and directors allow any deal to advance to the Premier League’s Owners and Directors Test.
