David Sullivan ‘first refusal’ emerges at West Ham United as takeover update shared
David Sullivan has first refusal on West Ham shares Vanessa Gold confirmed on Tuesday she’s ready sell.
As quoted by BBC Sport on Tuesday (31 October), joint-chair Gold said she will sell part of her family’s 25 per cent stake in the East London club after her late father David died in January.
In August, Gold was appointed to the West Ham board by Sullivan, who owns 39 per cent of the Hammers.
In reaction to the news on Halloween, Sullivan confirmed that he has the option to buy Gold’s shares with Claret & Hugh reporting that the Cardiff-born businessman has ruled out the chances of a takeover at the London Stadium.
“Yes, I have first refusal in part on some of the shares but we are all very happy working as partners,” Sullivan told Claret & Hugh on Tuesday (31 October).
Exciting new opportunity?
There’s been a great togetherness behind the scenes at West Ham recently.
While things on the pitch have been going well, things have in the boardroom too, which is why it was so devastating to see the news that David Gold died earlier this year.
It was heartbreaking for Gold to miss seeing us win the Europa Conference League but Sullivan and Daniel Kretinsky seem to be doing superbly at supporting the Gold family, who have been struck by more than one tragedy this year.
Vanessa Gold has said that the major shareholders at West Ham – including Tripp Smith – have supported her decision to sell off some of her shares in the club.
Sullivan will no doubt scoop up what he can if it stops someone from outside of the club from buying up but we could also see Kretinsky and Smith also boost their shareholding.
We’re happy with this and we wish them all the best in the coming negotiations.
In other West Ham news, Arsenal have received a fitness boost ahead of the Hammers clash.