Hibernian Supporters Limited (HSL) is widely expected to reject investment from American billionaire and AFC Bournemouth Chairman Bill Foley.
The Scottish Football Association (SFA) approved a proposed stake in the Edinburgh-based football club from Foley and his Black Knight consortium, who are also the majority owners of AFC Bournemouth and the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Foley is seeking a “meaningful stake” in Hibernian and despite his wishes, it is expected to be rejected by HSL as the group own a 15% stake in the Scottish Premier League (SPL) club.
This may be down to if Foley’s investment is backed by the Gordon Family – majority owners of Hibernian – then its stake in the club will subsidise. Foley’s investment, if approved by the majority owners, would grant him a 25% share of Hibernian.
Foley confirmed his interest in acquiring a stake in the Scottish team last November on the Men In Blazers podcast, admitting he was “fascinated” by the SPL and has revealed aspirations to help Hibernian compete in European football.
Whilst the Gordon Family have no intention of selling its majority stake, they have explored outside investment opportunities in the past.
Addressing the potential Foley bid, HSL made a statement on its website regarding the vote that took place at its AGM last Thursday.
The statement read: “As a membership organisation it was necessary for us to act quickly following the club’s AGM notice to ensure members were given the opportunity to share their views with us in order to take instruction on how to vote at the club’s AGM on Tuesday 27th February.
“Given our obligation to give members 14 days’ notice ahead of our own AGM, we acted swiftly to organise a meeting and shared the associated documentation with all members as quickly as possible following the confirmation from the club.
“All members were supplied with the ability to vote in person, or by proxy, which matches exactly the options given to shareholders ahead of the club’s AGM.
“With two special resolutions to be put to shareholders requiring a 75% majority vote to pass, it was these two resolutions which were put to our members.”
