Daniel Kretinsky is on course to become West Ham United's largest shareholder after reaching an agreement with David Sullivan, a development that appears to end Amanda Staveley's ambitions of securing a stake in the club.
Staveley, who watched West Ham's 4-2 victory over Wolves from the London Stadium earlier this week, had been working to acquire Vanessa Gold's 25.1% holding in the club. The businesswoman, who previously served as a director at Newcastle United, had agreed terms with the Gold family in July while assembling a consortium aimed at securing a seat on the board of the east London side.
That agreement, however, triggered a mechanism giving West Ham's existing shareholders the right to exercise pre-emption rights over the Gold family's stake ahead of a deadline set for 5.30pm on Thursday. According to sources close to the situation, Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire who also owns Royal Mail, has now struck a deal with Sullivan that will lift his holding from 27% to 46%. It is understood that there is now little prospect of Staveley's group re-entering the process.
Insiders have indicated that Kretinsky has long been intent on expanding his involvement at West Ham as the club looks to reset following relegation from the Premier League last season. Those plans were temporarily complicated once Staveley emerged as a rival bidder for the Gold stake.
It has also emerged that Sullivan turned down an approach from Staveley earlier in the summer regarding a potential purchase of his own shares. The 77-year-old is said to have privately favoured continuing his relationship with Kretinsky, who first invested in West Ham back in November 2021.
Under the new arrangement, Sullivan's stake will rise from 38.8% to 40%, keeping him as the second-largest shareholder at the club despite ceding the top position to Kretinsky. American businessman Tripp Smith will see his holding increase from 8% to 11%, while the remaining minor shareholders will collectively rise from 1.1% to 3%.
For Staveley to have any realistic chance of tabling a rival offer for the Gold family's shares, other shareholders would have needed to decline their pre-emption rights — something that now appears highly unlikely given the agreement reached between Kretinsky and Sullivan.
Sullivan's position at West Ham has been under scrutiny since he stepped down as a director and co-chairman in June. His departure from those roles came shortly before a joint investigation by the Times and the BBC's Panorama programme detailed allegations from seven women who accused him of abusing his position of power and preying on them for sex, with claims reportedly dating back to the 1980s and 1990s. Sullivan has categorically denied all of the allegations against him.
Despite no longer holding a formal position on the board, Sullivan has continued to attend West Ham's home matches this season. However, he no longer wields the influence he once did at the club, with Kretinsky's growing stake set to cement the Czech billionaire's status as the dominant figure in West Ham's ownership structure moving forward.
The development marks a significant moment in the club's ownership landscape as it continues to navigate life outside the Premier League, with questions now likely to turn to how Kretinsky intends to use his expanded influence to shape the club's rebuilding process.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.