Soccer-Hull remain quiet on report of $160 million takeover

Asia-Pac Financial Investment Co

20/10/2016 11:23

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Premier League club Hull City 
have declined to comment on the status of a 130 million pound 
($160 million) takeover proposal from a group listed on the Hong 
Kong Stock Exchange. 
    The potential buyers were named as Greater China 
Professional Services Limited, who were said in a Stock Exchange 
statement to have entered a provisional agreement on Oct. 13.    
    Any deal would be subject to the Premier League's owners and 
directors test, which was reported to have halted an agreement 
with another Chinese company last month. 
    "There is nothing to say," a club spokesman told Reuters on 
Thursday. 
    A person with direct knowledge of the sale process said that 
there was no done deal and that rival groups still had offers on 
the table. 
    Chinese investors have been spending heavily on European 
soccer clubs in recent months.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1C44TW 
    The Allam family, who have owned the Premier League club 
since 2010, have been attempting to sell since the Football 
Association turned down Egyptian-born chairman Assem Allam's  
attempt to change the club's name to Hull City Tigers two years 
ago.       
    Amid all the uncertainty, manager Steve Bruce resigned in 
July, citing a lack of player recruitment two months after 
leading the team back to the Premier League. 
    His assistant Mike Phelan took over on a temporary basis and 
was finally appointed to the role last week, only to lose his 
next match 6-1 at Bournemouth. 
    That left Hull in the bottom five ahead of Saturday's game 
at home to fellow strugglers Stoke City.  
($1 = 0.8151 pounds) 
 
 (Reporting by Steve Tongue and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Keith 
Weir) 
 ((Steve.Tongue@thomsonreuters.com;)) 
 
Keywords: SOCCER ENGLAND HUL/TAKEOVER