West Ham Hit By 2 Month Buyer Deadline
West Ham United must be sold in just over two months after court papers in Iceland revealed that owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson’s holding company Hansa will be declared insolvent within that time frame.
Gudmundsson has put the Premier League club up for sale in order to pay back debts exceeding £50m that resulted from the collapse of the Icelandic bank Landsbanki, in which he held a 41% stake.
Gudmundsson, who bought the club for £85m in 2006, is struggling to finalise a deal having initially expected to raise £250m, a figure that is proving unrealistic in the current financial climate.
A sale must be put in place by 6th March when court officials will reconvene in Reykjavik to decide if Hansa is in a position to repay its creditors, or has to be declared insolvent and subsequently stripped of its assets, including West Ham.
In such a scenario the club would be placed into immediate administration as well as being hit with a 9 point deduction under Premier League rules.
However, as many as nine potential buyers are reported to have shown an interest in the club and Gudmundsson, who is now permanently based in Reykjavik and maintains contact with Upton Park via his vice-chairman Asgeir Fridgeirsson, hopes discussions regarding a sale will speed up now the holiday period is over.
The news comes at the end of a turbulent year for West Ham which is likely to face a £30m bill in compensation to Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez transfer as well as losing its primary shirt sponsor XL Leisure after the travel firm fell into liquidation.
