EPL side Hull City Owners Assem and Ehab Allam "have taken a significant step towards the sale of the club after staging advanced talks with a group of investors from China and Hong Kong," according to Philip Buckingham of the HULL DAILY MAIL. The brother and sister team of Dai Yongge and Hawken Xiu Li "are leading a consortium currently in negotiations with the Allam family and formally tabled an offer to buy City at the end of last week." A group representing the interested party "visited the Tigers' training ground at Cottingham" and are hopeful of further progress in talks over the coming weeks.
Any proposed deal "still has a number of obstacles to overcome." The exact sum and structure of payment "has not yet been agreed, while the process of due diligence would also need to be completed." A second as yet unnamed group from China "has also declared an interest that could bring another twist." Leading the race to take charge "is a consortium that includes members of the Dai family, whose vast riches have been earned through real estate in their homeland." The group "already owns Beijing Renhe, a football club in China's second tier." Exclusivity "has not yet been granted to any interested party, suggesting a takeover remains a distance away from completion, but the Autumn could well bring the change in ownership that most supporters have come to crave" (HULL DAILY MAIL, 8/10). In London, Louise Taylor wrote Ehab Allam, "running the club in the absence of his seriously ill father, Assem, has been attempting to sell for some time but put the process on hold during a turbulent summer that has seen Steve Bruce resign as the manager and the club fail to sign a single player." Mike Phelan, standing in as the manager, "has only 13 fit senior players at his disposal for Leicester’s visit on Saturday when Hull fans plan to protest against the owners" (GUARDIAN, 8/10).
