Swansea City fans have accused the club of keeping them in the dark over the planned £100m American takeover.
The Swansea City Supporters Trust – which owns 21 per cent of the club and has a representative on the board – have claimed they were not briefed about the talks with proposed buyers Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien.
The Trust say they are “open-minded” over the planned sale and their representatives met with Levien on Saturday morning, ahead of the Swans’ 1-0 home victory over Chelsea.
The meeting was described as “constructive” but a Trust statement added: “It would be highly premature for us to reach any conclusion on whether such a sale on the terms proposed would be in the best interest of the football club and its supporters.”
The Trust also added it was disappointed that it was not provided with more time to consider the deal prior to it being made public.
Trust chairman Phil Sumbler said: “We have been aware of the terms of the potential deal for around two weeks. It has become apparent though that the discussions have been taking place since December and not all shareholders have been allowed to be part of those discussions.
“As we understood from two meetings I attended this morning we are not near the conclusion that this announcement suggests, and we are surprised that the information was released without the consent of all shareholders.”
Kaplan, the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Group and vice chairman of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, and D.C. United managing general partner Levien are finalising an agreement to purchase a controlling interest in the club.
Kaplan and Levien, who met in Memphis when Levien served as the Grizzlies’ CEO, have been holding talks for months with chairman Huw Jenkins.
The pair are nearing completion on a deal that would give their investment group a majority share in the club while keeping Jenkins in place as CEO and their co-chairman.
But it would be a major switch in strategy for a club that has spent a decade being steered by local businessmen since they were rescued from near bankruptcy.
“Talks will continue with the aim of an agreement being ratified by the end of the season,” said the club in a statement.
Kaplan and Levien are interested in expanding Swansea’s current 20,520-seat Liberty Stadium, investing in the club’s player and academy budget, and growing the brand internationally.
“We believe we have a proposal which will help Swansea City progress both on and off the field,” Jenkins said.
Reports in the USA say the plan is for D.C. United and Swansea to work closely together on both the football side and the business side, with Levien’s experience in stadium projects seen as a significant boost for Swansea in their planned expansion of the stadium.
Levien is in his fifth season as the managing general partner for D.C. United and is widely credited for spearheading the drive behind the long-awaited construction of a football stadium in the nation’s capital after a two-decade wait. The new stadium is scheduled to open in time for the start of the 2018 MLS season.
Levien assembled the Robert Pera-led ownership group which took over the Grizzlies in June 2012. In the next season, Memphis advanced to the conference finals for the first time in their history.
Levien also serves as a key adviser to Inter Milan majority owner and president Erick Thohir, who purchased the Italian giants in 2013. Thohir and fellow Indonesian billionaire Handy Soetedjo are partners at Inter Milan as well as co-owner of D.C. United with Levien.
