The battle to haul Scottish Premiership side Heart of Midlothian "back from the brink looks set to continue for at least another month despite claims" on Tuesday that the "crisis club has already been saved," according to Keith Jackson of the Scotland DAILY RECORD. The Tynecastle outfit was on the "verge of escaping administration because a deal had been agreed" to transfer Ukio Bankas Investment Group's 50% shareholding to fan group Foundation of Hearts. Negotiations between the parties, however, "remain at such a delicate stage" that administrators BDO feared on Tuesday that the "proposed deal could even be torpedoed by any premature claims." BDO administrator Bryan Jackson "remains locked in negotiations with the Lithuanians who have ordered a press black-out while the rescue deal remains in the balance." Jackson will now be "hoping to put pen to paper on the agreement before the end of this week but the bargaining process remains painstaking and fragile" (DAILY RECORD, 1/22). In Edinburgh, Stuart Bathgate wrote even if that written agreement is "completed between the two parties this week, a court in the Baltic republic would first have to sanction the share purchase." Only then could the CVA "involving the Foundation of Hearts be completed." And then, "once the CVA had gone through, several more weeks would be needed to tie up all the legalities before administration was at an end and the Foundation were confirmed as new owners." A BDO spokesperson said, "The club will not be out of administration by the end of January. These processes take time" (SCOTSMAN, 1/22).
