Takeover

[MancBaggie]

Liquidator Podcast was fairly gloomy about the takeover.

To me, it all comes down to when Patel was granted exclusivity. If it was as recent as last week or even the first week of January (ie shortly before John Percy reported), then I’d be surprised if anything was announced before the end of January, given the time needed for buy-side due diligence. If, however, Patel was granted exclusivity before Christmas and all sides managed to keep it under wraps until the reports last Friday, it is certainly very possible that a deal could be concluded (subject to league approvals) this month.

Either way, I’m hoping for the club to tweet an American flag before the top of the hour and we can all relax.

Largely agree. 

In corporate transactions, the purchaser's financial and indeed legal due diligence can often be done before exclusivity is granted - which of course means that much of it has been done here.

However, negotiation of the Share Purchase Agreement for the target entity would only take place once exclusivity is granted - as of course the Seller's solicitor would not waste the time and costs of negotiating 3 different SPAs.

Once exclusivity is granted to the preferred Buyer, then it normally takes at least 4 weeks to negotiate the SPA and complete the takeover (although Derby and others have done it more quickly).