Kryil Louis-Dreyfus' latest acquisition of Charlie Methven's shares at the club means big investments could be on the horizon according to football finance expert Kieran Maguire. Last week the Sunderland owner increased his shares from 41 per cent to 51 per cent after Stewart Donald and Methven sold shares in the club.
The former Eastleigh owner and Sunderland chairman took his shares in the club down to 19 per cent, while Methven relinquished all of his shares. The news was welcomed by the Black Cats fanbase who have called for stability heading into next season.
Kieran Maguire told Football Insider: "If someone has a majority stake, it allows them to appoint directors at the AGM. Therefore you can ensure that continuity throughout the club because the owner, the chief executive and the board are focused on the same goals together.
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“Donald and Methven became a bit of a laughing stock because of the revelations about them in the Netflix documentary. It did not reflect positively on the club.
"They were inexperienced and naïve with regard to decision-making. It will also allow Louis-Dreyfus to inject more money into the club because it’s easier to make big investment decisions.“
The amount of money Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sartori parted with to acquire more shares in the club is currently unknown, but one finance expert claims it could be in the £10-12million mark. A fee that's now likely been inflated following their promotion back to the Championship.
Dr Plumley told Football Insider: “It isn’t an exact science but there are some realistic figures we can presume. With the work we’ve done on club valuation, Sunderland are probably worth somewhere between £50m and £60m.
“It’s a crude metric, but if we take 20 per cent, you get somewhere between £10m and £12m as the price that will have been paid. It’s impossible to know for sure but I think that’s realistic.”
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