Saracens: Consortium acquires controlling stake in Gallagher Premiership membership for £32m

Nigel Wray, who was the membership’s proprietor for greater than 25 years, will probably be retaining a “important minority shareholding”; he mentioned in a press release: “I am not getting any youthful and I’ve at all times wished to make it possible for Saracens is in very secure fingers for a lot of future generations”

A consortium of buyers has agreed phrases to accumulate a majority controlling stake in Premiership facet Saracens for £32m, the membership mentioned on Saturday.

Saracens, 4 occasions Premiership champions and thrice European Cup winners within the final 5 years, have been relegated in 2020 as punishment for a number of wage cap breaches. However they returned to the highest flight after profitable final season’s second-tier Championship.

The membership mentioned the consortium includes membership chairman Neil Golding and Dominic Silvester and Paul O’Shea from Enstar Group, a worldwide insurance coverage group.

South African former World Cup-winning captain and Saracens participant Francois Pienaar, Nick Leslau, the chairman and chief govt of Prestbury Funding Holdings, and Marco Masotti, an proprietor of South Africa’s Sharks rugby group, are additionally within the consortium. One other former Saracen, Maggie Alphonsi, has agreed to affix the board.

Nigel Wray, who was the membership’s proprietor for greater than 25 years, mentioned he can be retaining a “important minority shareholding”.

“I am not getting any youthful and I’ve at all times wished to make it possible for Saracens is in very secure fingers for a lot of future generations,” he mentioned in a press release.

The membership mentioned the takeover is topic to regulatory approval. The brand new funds can be used to finish the redevelopment of the West Stand on the membership’s StoneX Stadium, spend money on ladies’s sport and set up a excessive efficiency coaching centre, it mentioned.

“We transfer on from the current challenges with exhausting classes realized and with strong new governance procedures in place,” Golding mentioned in a press release.