Plymouth owner Hallett agrees to sell stake in club
Plymouth Argyle owner Simon Hallett says he has agreed in principle to sell a stake in the club to new investors. No details of who will be investing have been revealed, how much they will invest or what size of stake they will have.Hallett has been Argyle's majority shareholder since 2018 and made it is his mission to turn the Pilgrims into a sustainable Championship side."We have now reached agreement in principle with a group that will invest in Argyle, and we are in the final stages of due diligence and regulatory approval," he said in a statement."If completed as expected, this transaction will inject new capital into the club in several phases. "The first phase will involve issuing new equity, diluting my stake and those of other shareholders. "Subsequent funds will be available through sponsorship deals and convertible loans, drawn at the club's discretion. "These loans will have favourable interest rates and will eventually convert to equity, allowing the new investors to take a majority ownership position."
It is the first major investment in the club since a United States-based group formed Argyle Green LLC and paid £4m for a 20% stake in the club in August 2022.But a number of the investors sold their stakes back to Hallett, who went on to control 87% of the club at the time. Hallett has been keen to invest in Argyle's infrastructure as well as the team on the field.A new training centre for the club's academy is being built at Brickfields while he has also invested in first-team training facilities and helped fund the rebuilding of the Mayflower Stand. Argyle won promotion back to the Championship in 2023 after being crowned League One champions and secured their survival in the second tier on the final day of last season.But this season they struggled under head coach Wayne Rooney, who was appointed in the summer.The former England captain left on 31 December and was replaced by Austrian Miron Muslic.While Argyle got a famous FA Cup win over Premier League leaders Liverpool and had a good spell of results in January and February, they have struggled in the past month and are are bottom of the Championship, six points from safety. Hallett says the new investors are committed to the club, even if they are relegated back to League One.
"Securing new investment has taken longer than we hoped because we have been careful in selecting investors who share our vision for Argyle as a financially sustainable, community-focused club striving for success on the pitch," added Hallett."Despite the increased risk of relegation, our new investors remain committed and the agreements in place will not be affected by a potential drop to League One. "While awaiting this investment, Argyle Green and I will continue to provide financial support for both squad improvements and infrastructure projects."Should Argyle go down this season, Hallett said they will have a budget that would be bigger than the one which saw them win League One with a club-record haul of 101 points."Our success off the pitch has enabled us to diversify and grow revenues to record levels," he said. "Should we be relegated, returns on our investments position us well to remain financially strong in League One with the ability to fund a highly competitive first-team squad."A League One budget would be considerably in excess of that with which we were promoted in 2023."
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