Manchester City:
Thaksin Shinawatra offers to buy the club
Thaksin Shinawatra, the former
Thailand PM who was today charged with corruption, agreed to buy
English football team Manchester-City for 81.6 million pounds.
Thaksin
currently lives in London, England, after being ousted in a Thai
military coup in September of last year. According to reports,
Shinawatra offered 40p per share for Manchester City, and agreed
to assume the club's debt of over 60 million pounds. The
directors of the English football club urged shareholders to
accept the offer. Shares of Manchester City have climbed 18%
this year to 39.5 pence.
A controversial deal, as seen by many,
after Thai prosecutors today filed charges against Thaksin
Shinawatra and his wife over the acquisition of land from
Thailand's central bank. Thaksin claims he will return home to
fight the charges. A junta-installed committee has also frozen
about $1.8 billion of assets belonging to Thaksin and his
family.
All these legal troubles do not quite
fit with the "fit and proper person'" test introduced by the
English football to improve corporate governance. Convicted
criminals are among those forbidden from becoming a club
directors.
Manchester City, finishing 14th in the
Premiership this year, ousted manager Stuart Pearce after the
season ended. But according to rumours in the British press,
Sven-Goran Eriksson has agreed to take charge of Manchester
City, if Thaksin succeeded in buying the club.
Seven of the 20 Premiership clubs are already
owned by foreign investors.
Published on 06/21/2007
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