Brentford in advanced talks with investors over minority sale
Brentford are in advanced talks with English filmmaker Matthew Vaughn and South African businessman Gary Lubner over the sale of a minority stake in the club, per The Athletic.
The Bees' owner Matthew Benham has been seeking fresh investment to help fund the Premier League side for several years.
Advertisement
In February last year, the 57-year-old hired multinational private and merchant bank Rothschild to oversee the potential sale of a stake in the West London club.
Now they are closing in on an agreement with Vaughn and Lubner, with Benham interested in selling 10-20 per cent of his shares at a total valuation of around £400 million for Brentford.
The club plan to invest this money in helping them be more aggressive in the transfer market, fund further additions to Best Intentions' multi-club group and boost their commercial department.
Benham initially provided interest-free loans to his boyhood football club before taking full control in 2012.
Advertisement
The British businessman has helped transform the fortunes of Brentford, pouring more than £100m of his own wealth into the team since 2005.
They were competing in League One when Benham first became the owner, but led them to Premier League promotion in 2021.
He has overseen the Bees' move to the Gtech Community Stadium and established them in the English top-flight under manager Thomas Frank, who recently left to join Tottenham Hotspur.
With external investment, Brentford want to consistently challenge for a place in the top 10 and European qualification.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


New York Times
35 minutes ago
- New York Times
Milan Mandaric rules out Sheffield Wednesday takeover bid, cites ‘several other interested parties'
Former owner Milan Mandaric will not try to lead a rescue bid for crisis-stricken Championship side Sheffield Wednesday following talks with his family and UK-based advisors, the 86-year-old Serbian-American businessman has confirmed. Last week, in an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield, Mandaric suggested that he was ready to explore the 'possibility' of a takeover, as the South Yorkshire side need a 'big rescue'. Advertisement But having flown to London from his California base on Monday, the serial club-owner has issued a statement to say he is not in a position to buy the club. Mandaric sold Wednesday to Dejphon Chansiri in 2015 and had hoped to meet the Thai businessman to discuss a way out of the club's grave financial problems this week, but Chansiri declined the invitation. In truth, Mandaric was never in a position to buy the club back from Chansiri and what he was really proposing was a temporary takeover, with the Thai's consent, to stabilise the four-time English champions so they would be more attractive to new investors. But, with Chansiri refusing to engage with the idea, it was a non-starter. 'I am of course very concerned about the current situation the club finds itself in,' said Mandaric in a written statement. 'However, on reflection I feel it would not be in the best interest of finding the long-term solution we all want for me to explore further my heartfelt desire to assist at this crucial time for the club. 'I have several projects I am currently working on outside the UK and I do not believe I could devote the time it would take to return the club to the healthy condition I left it in a decade ago when Mr. Chansiri took over ownership from me.' Mandaric, who has owned or co-owned at least 10 different clubs in six different countries during a remarkable career in football, is currently involved in a hotel project in Slovenia, where he has also been looking for a new club to invest in after recent spells in charge at Olimpija Ljubljana and Vojvodina. His statement continued by saying he was aware that there are 'several interested parties' who are trying to buy Wednesday and he did not want his involvement 'to either slow down or hinder these discussions'. As previously reported by The Athletic, there are two U.S.-based groups currently in talks with Chansiri's representatives. Of those two only the one led by Sheffield-born businessman Adam Shaw and American real estate investor John Flanagan has chosen to go public. Contrary to recent reports, Lyon majority shareholder John Textor has not entered the race and is unlikely to do so while the French club try to overturn their relegation to Ligue 2 for financial issues. In the meantime, Sheffield Wednesday have recently been given a three-window transfer embargo for breaking English Football League rules on late payment of wages. And with this month's payday looming, fears are mounting that Chansiri will fail to pay players and staff on time for a third time in four months. There is also the next tax bill to settle, a new training-ground pitch to lay, stadium repairs to complete and pre-season fixtures to organise — Wednesday's problems are piling up. Advertisement If there is any good news, it appears that Chansiri's family, which owns the world's largest tuna manufacturer Thai Union Group, has taken control of the Sheffield Wednesday sale process by appointing a highly-respected London-based lawyer to engage with bidders. Mandaric, who has also owned Portsmouth and Leicester City in the past, concluded his statement by saying he would continue to follow Sheffield Wednesday's fortunes and would be happy to help Chansiri in any way he could. He also thanked the Wednesday fans who had contacted him but said he would not be making any further public comments. There is one concrete way that the former owner could help his old club and it was alluded to in his BBC radio interview. When Mandaric sold the team to Chansiri he negotiated a bonus payment of £8million if Wednesday are promoted to the Premier League and a further £2m if they can then stay up for more than one season. Unlike most such deals, this one is open-ended and would be passed on to any new owner. This is the £10m that Mandaric told the BBC he was still owed. Chansiri has previously asked him to drop this claim on the club and Mandaric has told him he would be willing to discuss it, but Chansiri has not taken him up on that offer. Sheffield Wednesday, one of England's oldest and best-supported clubs, were founder members of the Premier League but were relegated in 2000 and have spent the last 25 years yo-yoing between the second and third tiers. (NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Blackburn Rovers star's honest admission after frustrating injury issues
Hayden Carter believes 2025/26 will be a huge season after seeing his Blackburn Rovers campaign disrupted by injuries last term. The defender was limited to only 16 appearances after a long spell out with a knee injury. That kept him on the sidelines for four months, between October and February. Advertisement After returning, and looking impressive, a calf injury at the end of March curtailed his season. He returned to the bench on the final day at Sheffield United but didn't feature. The season prior, Carter struggled with a hamstring issue and missed 12 games of the season. That has put a slight dampener on his momentum after breaking through and establishing himself as a first-choice centre-back option. READ MORE: Out of contract Blackburn Rovers player close to signing new deal The 25-year-old hopes a positive pre-season will help ensure those issues are in the past this term. "It's huge for me. Obviously, last year wasn't my best year in terms of injuries and missing long periods," Carter told RoversTV. Advertisement "Hopefully this pre-season is a good one and it can give me the platform to kick on this year and stay fit and be available for every game. "The season started well. Then obviously the knee injury, which I could do nothing about, was a huge kick in the teeth, but now I've worked hard during that rehab to come back. "Then to do the calf after five games, where I thought I came back and did reasonably well personally. Yes, it was really disappointing, but as I said, I hope this pre-season is a smooth one and I can give myself a good platform to stay fit for the season. "With the setbacks last year and missing so much football, I think I needed that break away mentally more than anything, like you said, just to reset and be ready for the upcoming season." Advertisement Rovers returned to Brockhall's Senior Training Centre on Monday for testing. Tuesday was the first proper day on the grass, with fitness work and ball exercises filling the session. "The first few days have been really positive. It was a tough day yesterday with all the testing and the fitness test, but today, to get the balls out and stuff, it's been a positive start and it's good to be back up and running," he said. "We've got good sports scientists, the physios and staff who do all the data work and stuff to make sure we're in the best condition possible for the start of the season and to remain fit for as much of the season as possible. So, yes, pre-season is huge and hopefully, we can all do well in pre-season, all get through it unscathed and crack on. "It's massive, we know the first few weeks of pre-season is always going to be tough after having a few weeks off. But we all know why we have to do it and how important it is. Advertisement "The sports scientists and coaches let us know why we do each thing, and the last few weeks of pre-season is always about doing the tactical work and making sure we know what we're doing come the start of the season." Valerien Ismael will be keen to build on his first few months as Rovers boss. The head coach cited pre-season as the ideal opportunity to really cement his ideas into the players. "I think that helps. A lot of the lads were obviously here last season and know what the manager demands, so I think that can only be a positive going into this season," Carter concluded. "It's been eight weeks or so now since last season finished. We're all excited to see who we're facing and when, and like I said, we're all looking forward to getting the season up and running. "I'll keep an eye out for former clubs, like Portsmouth, but otherwise we're just ready to get the campaign going."
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rayner refuses to repeat chancellor's pledge on tax hikes
Angela Rayner has refused to repeat Rachel Reeves' pledge that taxes will not be increased at the next budget. Standing in for Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs, the deputy prime minister was pressed on warnings to fund the chancellor's spending plans. Politics Live: The Tories want a commitment that this will not be the case in order to support the government's welfare bill, which is under threat from a Shadow chancellor Mel stride, standing in for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, said even if the planned benefit cuts go through, "almost every respected economist now says tax rises are all but inevitable in the autumn". He said Ms Reeves promised after her last budget that this will not be the case and asked Ms Rayner to give "certainty" to businesses and repeat that pledge. Ms Rayner said the question was "a bit rich" given the Tories raised taxes to record highs before the last election, adding: "I take no lectures". Mr Stride pressed her on analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) that local authorities will have to raise council tax to the maximum level allowed to pay for local services. He said: "The IFS says that the spending review will mean the biggest council tax increases in a generation. "A £7bn tax rise and yet the chancellor and the prime minister have repeatedly claimed that the government will not raise taxes on working people. So can I ask... why doesn't she think the council tax is paid by working people?" Ms Rayner again attacked the Tories' record, saying he had "absolute nerve" as council tax "rose every single year under that government". She said Labour was "delivering money for local government, when they had austerity, put taxes up and ruined the British economy". Ms Reeves unveiled her spending review earlier this month, which outlined how much day-to-day funding government departments will get over the next three years, along with capital spending for longer-term projects. The chancellor has insisted her plans are fully funded, but Paul Johnson, director of the IFS, has said she has left herself such little headroom that "any move in the wrong direction" for the economy would "almost certainly spark more tax rises". Any tax hikes would likely spark a backlash given Ms Reeves' said last November that there would be following her decision to raise employer National Insurance in the autumn budget. The government is facing further trouble as a key part of the spending review was a package of reforms aimed at by 2030. However, an unprecedented rebellion of over 100 MPs is threatening that legislation, which is due to be voted on next Tuesday. Ms Rayner today insisted the vote will go ahead. She said: "I'll tell the right honourable member why we're pressing ahead with our reforms. "That is because we're investing £1 billion into tailored employment support, a right to try to help more people back into work and ending reassessments for the most severely disabled who will never be able to work. "We won't walk away and stand by and abandon millions of people trapped in the failing system left behind by him and his colleagues."