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https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/...-swoop-in-and-buy-New-Zealand-Warriors-report
The New Zealand Warriors will soon be sold to the Carlaw Park Heritage Trust, an arm of Auckland Rugby League.
The deal is close to being finalised between the two groups, with current owner set to decide to sell the club to the regional body, rather than the American consortium led by Hawaiian Richard Fale.
There are plans for a press conference this week to announce the change of ownership, once the deal has been completed.
DAVID WHITE/ STUFF
Richard Fale's consortium may have lost out to Auckland Rugby League in the sale of the New Zealand Warriors.
It appears that Watson has had a change on heart on the future of the NRL club, having previously agreed terms to sell the Warriors to Fale's group.
On April 2, it was reported Hawaii-based businessman Richard Fale's consortium would be the new owners of the Warriors after reaching a verbal agreement with Watson's Cullen Investments.
But the latest twist in the long running saga is that ARL have swooped in with an improved bid to buy the team with the finances of the Carlaw Park Heritage Trust.
Fale last week said he would be returning to New Zealand to finalise the sale.
"We're tying up the loose ends here," Fale said on April 22.
"It still looks like we're on track and things will go down the way we expected."
Fale said he and Watson's Cullen Investments, were down to sorting out the nitty gritty details of the purchase of the club.
"It's tweaks here and there to the purchase agreement," Fale said.
"We sent over a draft that we're happy with, they're reviewing it again and we expect them to submit back to us sometime soon, probably early next week."
Fale also said he had a big falling out with ARL chairman Cameron McGregor.
The saga has been going on since last August, when Auckland businessman Paul Davys put in an offer of what was believed to be $15 million for the club.
It was reported at the time that Watson was looking for $20m and the final price of the Warriors is understood to be closer to $24m.
Negotiations between Fale's group and Watson's Cullen Investments weren't smooth sailing.
Fale wanted to do an asset acquisition, where they would buy all the individual parts of the Warriors, but Watson was looking for a share sale, where the club along with its assets and liabilities would be taken over.
ARL didn't have a problem with a share sale.
Even though they were offering less money than Fale's group, the simplicity of the sale this way appealed to Watson.
The ARL had been interested in reacquiring the Warriors for some time. They initially made a joint bid with the Waipareira Trust and were granted an exclusivity agreement to buy the Warriors.
But when the Waipareira Trust pulled out, those negotiations collapsed and the exclusivity agreement ended.
They then launched another bid and saw ownership as part of a bigger picture to rejuvenate the sport in Auckland and also set up a semi-professional league.
There were initial talks of doing a joint bid with Fale's group, but this didn't last long and relations between the two have been frosty ever since.
The ARL had been in discussions with former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe, who was a part owner of the Warriors in the 1990s and the club's former CEO Wayne Scurrah.
The ARL would need to get approval from the NRL to rubber stamp the sale, but this should be a formality.
The New Zealand Warriors will soon be sold to the Carlaw Park Heritage Trust, an arm of Auckland Rugby League.
The deal is close to being finalised between the two groups, with current owner set to decide to sell the club to the regional body, rather than the American consortium led by Hawaiian Richard Fale.
There are plans for a press conference this week to announce the change of ownership, once the deal has been completed.
DAVID WHITE/ STUFF
Richard Fale's consortium may have lost out to Auckland Rugby League in the sale of the New Zealand Warriors.
It appears that Watson has had a change on heart on the future of the NRL club, having previously agreed terms to sell the Warriors to Fale's group.
On April 2, it was reported Hawaii-based businessman Richard Fale's consortium would be the new owners of the Warriors after reaching a verbal agreement with Watson's Cullen Investments.
But the latest twist in the long running saga is that ARL have swooped in with an improved bid to buy the team with the finances of the Carlaw Park Heritage Trust.
Fale last week said he would be returning to New Zealand to finalise the sale.
"We're tying up the loose ends here," Fale said on April 22.
"It still looks like we're on track and things will go down the way we expected."
Fale said he and Watson's Cullen Investments, were down to sorting out the nitty gritty details of the purchase of the club.
"It's tweaks here and there to the purchase agreement," Fale said.
"We sent over a draft that we're happy with, they're reviewing it again and we expect them to submit back to us sometime soon, probably early next week."
Fale also said he had a big falling out with ARL chairman Cameron McGregor.
The saga has been going on since last August, when Auckland businessman Paul Davys put in an offer of what was believed to be $15 million for the club.
It was reported at the time that Watson was looking for $20m and the final price of the Warriors is understood to be closer to $24m.
Negotiations between Fale's group and Watson's Cullen Investments weren't smooth sailing.
Fale wanted to do an asset acquisition, where they would buy all the individual parts of the Warriors, but Watson was looking for a share sale, where the club along with its assets and liabilities would be taken over.
ARL didn't have a problem with a share sale.
Even though they were offering less money than Fale's group, the simplicity of the sale this way appealed to Watson.
The ARL had been interested in reacquiring the Warriors for some time. They initially made a joint bid with the Waipareira Trust and were granted an exclusivity agreement to buy the Warriors.
But when the Waipareira Trust pulled out, those negotiations collapsed and the exclusivity agreement ended.
They then launched another bid and saw ownership as part of a bigger picture to rejuvenate the sport in Auckland and also set up a semi-professional league.
There were initial talks of doing a joint bid with Fale's group, but this didn't last long and relations between the two have been frosty ever since.
The ARL had been in discussions with former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe, who was a part owner of the Warriors in the 1990s and the club's former CEO Wayne Scurrah.
The ARL would need to get approval from the NRL to rubber stamp the sale, but this should be a formality.
