Coleraine chairman views club takeover 'very close to being transferred'

Coleraine chairman Colin McKendry views the takeover finalisation of the Irish League club by two London-based businessman as now "very close".

Patrick Mitchell and Ranald McGregor Smith, both former pupils at Coleraine Academical Institution, have vowed to invest a seven-figure sum across five years into The Showgrounds.

The Friends of Coleraine, as owners of the club, signed off last August to move forward and McKendry has now offered an update on that process.

"The owners of the club are the Friends of Coleraine who made a decision - 85 or 90 per cent - to transfer the shares...that hasn't changed," said McKendry. "Due diligence and all the paperwork has been done, all the necessary checks have been done. The potential new owners have met the IFA and NIFL and there have been no issues with it...so, look, it's very close to being transferred.

"We've done our bit as a Board, we've now passed it back to the Friends of Coleraine to undertake that transaction."

In terms of timescale, McKendry considers it "now in the hands of their solicitors".

"We have all our paperwork done," he said. "At this moment in time nothing really changes other than the club transfers into the hands of a private company. Everything remains the same, it's a simple transaction, we've our work done, we're waiting on other parties to advise it, not advise us.

"Friends of Coleraine becomes the management committee now, it's their club and they now have to sign over on it if they agree to everything. The recommendation is that they go ahead with it."

McKendry, due to an exclusivity agreement, was restricted in discussions over a second party interested in Coleraine.

“This is an e-mail that came in, I haven't seen that e-mail myself personally because of the exclusivity agreement,” he said. “We were made aware of it (the Board) and then what we done is informed the potential new owners that there was an e-mail there.

“At this stage it's an e-mail, we can't do anything about it anyway.

“Second bid is an expression of interest, that's how we could put it.

“It remains to be seen what it is, we don't have any back-up on it.”