CAPE TOWN – Western Province Rugby Union president Zelt Marais has hit out at reports suggesting that an American consortium was close to purchasing a controling stake in the Stormers.
Marais was irked that information about the deal, which he termed as “confidential” was “leaked” to the media.
In a statement released late on Sunday, Marais said: “The majority of our members serving the Union at these levels find the behaviour of members that make themselves guilty of such treasonous acts as disgraceful and unbecoming of a leader, and I call on any person serving WP Rugby in this manner to rather vacate your position with honour or to stop this need you have to misuse your position of trust to feed the media information that is mostly quoted out of context or leaked when the sole purpose of influencing outcomes in the boardroom.”
IOL reported earlier this week that the cash strapped WPRFU was entertaining a massive $6 million (around R100 million) offer from a group of American businessmen. According to our report, the consortium were after a controlling share in the Stormers.
Speaking to Independent Media during the week, Marco Masotti, former Durban lawyer who represents MVM Holdings, a group of ex-South African businssmen in the United States, said they submitted an excusivity agreement to the WPRFUon July 8 in which his consortium offer to buy 51% of the Stormers for the controlling interest.
“The Western Province RFU has since come back to us with the concern that they should keep the controlling share, but tht they would give us an equitable share of the Board (of the Stormers),” said Masotti.
In his statement, Marais said whatever agreement was reached, it would be “structured to best serve the longterm interest of the Union being the 100% shareholder”, which didn’t sit well with the consortium.
Masotti had earlier said: “There needs to be one controler and the guys that are involved in this bid have extensive experience in enterprises of this kind – we are talking about owners of NBA and ice hockey teams.”
IOL Sport