FlightMan

Not sure if this is for Sports or not?

LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - London soccer club West Ham's finances were again in the spotlight on Tuesday after the Icelandic bank chaired by the club's billionaire owner was put in receivership, the latest victim of global financial turmoil.

The Icelandic government said it was taking control of Landsbanki, the island's second-largest bank by value, as the country's financial system threatened to collapse and its currency plunged.

Owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, erstwhile chairman of Landsbanki, led an 85 million pound ($148.3 million) buyout of the east London club in November 2006.

He invested another 30.5 million pounds in West Ham in December 2007 after buying a further 5 percent stake.

He is Iceland's second-richest person, after his son Thor.

The Gudmundsson family are major shareholders in Landsbanki.

West Ham, already reeling from the loss of its shirt sponsor last month after the collapse of tour operator XL Leisure, could not be reached for comment.

The mid-sized club is also appealing against a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that it pay compensation to a rival club, which could run into tens of millions of pounds.

Richard Elliott, a lecturer in globalisation in soccer at Southampton Solent University, said English clubs were becoming more vulnerable because they were no longer funded just by fans entering the turnstile and could be affected by events beyond their control as a result of growing foreign ownership.

David Lock

I can see player's wages being slashed to say £50k a week, poor dears. dl

zip106

Not only west Ham.
The same company own many of our high street stores - House of Fraser being the main one.

gazza-uk

oi oi

The owe the Blades £50m .....

Gordo

no they don't - you're confusing them with Bauger, which is the wealthy icelandic family Jóhannesson's investment fund. that said, there are rumours that they're looking to sell off assets as well.

Gordo

webby v7 slipperwagon

iTrader: (2)

Listening to Talk Sport today it was confirmed.EVERYONE HATES spurs. Sorry off topic, but it was confirmed that like newcastle west ham are privatley owned, so will not be affected by the icelandic goings on. But it does mean there will be no money for transfers or negotiating wages.So they own there ground and land and most importantly the club is privatley owned.

greenonedave

There never was a problem when they was called bejam !

zip106

That's the one.
They also own Hamleys.