Access Industries, the company American based and US Citizen Billionaire Leonard Blavatnik is behind, has confirmed that they are in talks for the majority stake of Irish based Setanta. Could be great news with a 30 Million Pound payment to the Premier League due Monday….

Via Gaurdian

“Access Industries can confirm that this morning it submitted a proposal to the board of Setanta to acquire a majority interest in Setanta, refinancing the company,” the company said.

“The Access proposal is subject to a number of pre-conditions being met. Access believes that this proposal would secure the future of the broadcaster for customers, football and employees.”

Blavatnik, a Russian-American who is a US citizen, is thought to have offered £20m for a 51% stake in Setanta, which would represent a dramatic fall in the company’s value.

Two years ago, it was discreetly marketed to potential buyers by its private equity backers with a £1bn price tag. The Setanta board is meeting today to discuss the Blavatnik offer and it is possible there could be an announcement by the end of the day. But one source close to the talks cautioned that an agreement remains some way off.

“Access Industries are still in the process of doing quite a lot of due diligence,” the source said. “[The deal] is heavily conditional on quite a lot of work still to be done. I don’t think there is an outright, unconditional offer [at this stage] – there has not been enough time. It is encouraging for Setanta, but there is a very real possibility it won’t happen.”

Image via Iconocast