Staveley consortium agrees West Ham stake, triggering shareholder rights
A deal for a quarter of West Ham United has shifted from Daniel Kretinsky to a consortium led by former Newcastle investor Amanda Staveley, sparking a two-month pre-emption process that could still alter the club's ownership structure.
Vanessa Gold has agreed to sell her family’s 25.1 per cent stake in West Ham United to a consortium led by Amanda Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi. The buyers, operating through PCP Capital Partners and Ashland Forest Capital Partners, have signed a legally binding agreement for the Championship club.
The agreement scuppers a previous deal struck in June with Daniel Kretinsky, whose EP Group had been poised to acquire the exact same holding. That transaction would have increased Kretinsky's shareholding to 43 per cent, surpassing the 38.8 per cent held by David Sullivan to make the Czech investor the club's largest shareholder.
The sudden shift in preferred buyer has immediately triggered a formal pre-emption process, introducing significant uncertainty into the club's corporate governance. Under this mechanism, existing shareholders are granted the right to purchase the shares themselves rather than see the equity shift to an external party.
Sullivan made clear his frustration with the collapsed June agreement, stating the original deal had provided stability "at a crucial time" while Saturday's announcement "does the opposite." He added that he is reviewing all options, including the possibility of exercising his pre-emption rights in full.
Gold confirmed the June deal had simply failed to materialise over the subsequent weeks. "On June 12, Daniel Kretinsky and I agreed a sale that would have made EP Group the single largest shareholder in West Ham," she said. "Unfortunately, since that time, the original deal and other alternatives that we have discussed could not be brought to fruition."
Staveley’s arrival introduces a partner with deep experience in high-profile European sports investment. She famously brokered the Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle United in 2021 and oversaw the club's subsequent rise from Premier League relegation candidates to Champions League participants.
West Ham confirmed that the pre-emption process will operate in two distinct rounds, giving existing shareholders the chance to buy their proportional percentage first, followed by any remaining shares. The club noted this legal procedure will take approximately two months to complete.
Until that process concludes, West Ham's ownership structure remains entirely unchanged. The club stressed that day-to-day operations are unaffected as the team prepares to begin its attempt to secure an immediate return to the Premier League at Burnley on August 16.
