Morris increases bid for Leeds
02/06/2007 - 4:08:05 PM
Property developer Simon Morris has increased his offer to creditors in a last-ditch attempt to thwart Ken Bates in the power struggle at Elland Road.
Morris has today offered the club's creditors a 40p-in-the-pound deal in a desperate late bid to stop Bates from regaining control of Leeds.
But although that compares favourably with Bates' offer of just 1p-in-the-pound, local property tycoon Morris is expected to be too late to win the creditors' support.
Morris, who has already tabled £10m (€14.7m) to buy Leeds out of administration, said: "If we are successful in our bid to buy Leeds United, there will be 20p-in-the-pound for the creditors immediately, and a further 20p-in-the-pound for them over a period of time."
Creditors voted by the slimmest of margins to accept Bates' offer to buy back the club at a stormy meeting yesterday, but it was so close administrators KPMG were forced to adjourn proceedings and call for a recount on Monday morning.
Some creditors argued Bates' offer to pay back money owed by Leeds was not the best on the table and claimed other parties interested in buying the club had not been given a fair chance.
Bates, who placed Leeds in administration with debts of £35m (€51.6m) on May 4, requires 75% of the vote to have his 1p-in-the-pound offer accepted by creditors and the original count showed he had 75.02%.
Morris added: "We believe creditors will see and understand the value in our offer."
But although the creditors' meeting on Friday was adjourned, the vote has already taken place and so Morris' offer cannot be put to the creditors.
A source told PA Sport: "Morris is too late. The only reason Bates' offer was not formally announced at Friday's meeting is because the administrators ordered a recount - but it's not a re-vote."
A creditor who wished to remain anonymous told PA Sport: "It would appear Morris has put the offer into the arena just to show what happened yesterday was a travesty, the whole thing was stage-managed."
02/06/2007 - 4:08:05 PM
Property developer Simon Morris has increased his offer to creditors in a last-ditch attempt to thwart Ken Bates in the power struggle at Elland Road.
Morris has today offered the club's creditors a 40p-in-the-pound deal in a desperate late bid to stop Bates from regaining control of Leeds.
But although that compares favourably with Bates' offer of just 1p-in-the-pound, local property tycoon Morris is expected to be too late to win the creditors' support.
Morris, who has already tabled £10m (€14.7m) to buy Leeds out of administration, said: "If we are successful in our bid to buy Leeds United, there will be 20p-in-the-pound for the creditors immediately, and a further 20p-in-the-pound for them over a period of time."
Creditors voted by the slimmest of margins to accept Bates' offer to buy back the club at a stormy meeting yesterday, but it was so close administrators KPMG were forced to adjourn proceedings and call for a recount on Monday morning.
Some creditors argued Bates' offer to pay back money owed by Leeds was not the best on the table and claimed other parties interested in buying the club had not been given a fair chance.
Bates, who placed Leeds in administration with debts of £35m (€51.6m) on May 4, requires 75% of the vote to have his 1p-in-the-pound offer accepted by creditors and the original count showed he had 75.02%.
Morris added: "We believe creditors will see and understand the value in our offer."
But although the creditors' meeting on Friday was adjourned, the vote has already taken place and so Morris' offer cannot be put to the creditors.
A source told PA Sport: "Morris is too late. The only reason Bates' offer was not formally announced at Friday's meeting is because the administrators ordered a recount - but it's not a re-vote."
A creditor who wished to remain anonymous told PA Sport: "It would appear Morris has put the offer into the arena just to show what happened yesterday was a travesty, the whole thing was stage-managed."