Amanda Staveley has given a fresh interview to underline the difficulty of keeping her bid to buy Newcastle United under wraps.
Tuesday evening saw a report suggesting that Staveley and PCP Capital Partners were timewasting and a suggestion that Mike Ashley had walked away from talks with the Middle East group.
In a new interview if UAE publication The National , Staveley said: “In football there seems to be no secrets, there is such intense interest in football and that is difficult to manage [during a transaction].”
Amanda Staveley (Image: PA)
Staveley also insists that PCP Capital Partners are able to pull of a big deal and are backed by wealthy investors, despite having a small team.
She added that PCP: “Will comfortably be able to invest US$1 billion into a deal if we need to, or more, and we also will invest throughout the capital structure.
“We will do equity and we will do credit as well.
Mike Ashley (Image: PA)
“That affords us some degree of balancing our risk as well.”
Staveley’s husband and PCP’s leading partner Mehrdad Ghodoussi also talked up the group’s links.
He said: “Obviously we have strong relationships within the [Middle East] region, we have also built relationships in Asia, in China and also in the US.”
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Staveley was also asked about wealthy Premier League owners and said: “It’s my belief that big clubs should be owned by individuals with deep pockets or sovereigns, like Man City.
“What Abu Dhabi has done to support Manchester is an example of a responsible football owner. So the big clubs are in the safest hands.”
And on Ashley’s reported £350m valuation of Newcastle , Staveley said: “That is (his) right if he thinks it is worth £350m, he’s got a right to wait for the right price and that’s okay [but] don’t scare off other potential bidders because there are so few potential parties that can buy it.”