English Premier League club Newcastle United has held talks with the Bellagraph Nova Group (BNG) group over a possible takeover bid, the Singapore-backed company said in a statement.<\/p>\n
BNG, co-founded by Singapore-based investors Evangeline Shen, Nelson Loh and Terence Loh, and headquartered in Paris, said that negotiations were at an advanced stage and that the group was willing to \u201cmassively contribute\u201d to the club\u2019s development.<\/p>\n
\u201cBellagraph Nova Group\u2019s founders (have) already provided a LOI (Letter of Intent) as well as a proof of funds on Aug. 10,\u201d BNG said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to the engagement to the Newcastle Football Club and community, Bellagraph Nova Group enlisted help of England captain Alan Shearer and former player Michael Chopra.\u201d<\/p>\n
BNG owns 31 entities and earned about $12 billion in revenue last year, according to the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
The group added that the talks with United owner and British businessman Mike Ashley had taken place in recent days and were ongoing.<\/p>\n
United\u2019s 300 million pound ($393 million) takeover by a Saudi Arabian-backed consortium collapsed last month after the group announced it was ending interest in the deal, which was delayed by the Premier League\u2019s owners and directors test.<\/p>\n
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said last week that the group, which included Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund PIF, declined to take up the Premier League\u2019s offer of independent arbitration to decide who would own the club.<\/p>\n
The Saudi-backed bid was criticised by human rights campaigners, with questions also being raised about pirate broadcasts of Premier League games in the Middle Eastern country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"