Olympique Marseille takeover talks fall through

Robert Louis-Dreyfus, largest shareholder of French Olympique Marseille, broke off takeover talks with Canadian businessman Jack Kachkar.

Louis-Dreyfus could reach a last-minute deal with Kachkar, who offered EUR 115 million to take over France's most prestigious club.

"The chances that the deal will take place are infinitesimal," said Pape Diouf, Marseille chairman, in a statement.

"For that to happen, the buyer would have to give every guarantee that he can help the club in the future and he would have to do that in the next few hours."

Louis-Dreyfus will have to decide if he will look for another buyer or if he will stay on.

"We can trust the main shareholder, who has always been determined to defend the interests of the club," Diouf said.

"Whatever happens in the near or remote future will be in the club's best interests."

Louis-Dreyfus broke off talks with Kachkar on Thursday after the Canadian asked for another delay to pay the EUR 115 million price that had been agreed upon for him to take over the former European champions.

Kachkar, owner of pharmaceutical company Inyx, said he had delivered financial guarantees to Louis-Dreyfus.

On March 1, a spokesman for Kachkar said a final agreement had been reached with Louis-Dreyfus, but Louis-Dreyfus said the deal would not be finalised until he received the money.

The French Professional Football League (LFP) had informed Marseille that it viewed Kachkar's bid unfavourably, while the French media had questioned his personal wealth and suggested that the sale could be delayed.

Many Marseille fans, tired of waiting for the glory days to return, felt it was time for a change and heard Kachkar promise to keep the club's two most prominent players, France forwards Franck Ribery and Djibril Cisse.

Marseille won the European Cup in 1993, won eight league titles and won the French Cup a record 10 times.

It was stripped of the French championship in 1993 because of a bribery scandal.

Louis-Dreyfus took over Marseille 10 years ago for the symbolic sum of one franc. Despite putting approximately EUR 170 million of his personal wealth into the club, it has failed to win a single trophy.

After he received a three-year suspended sentence last June for his involvement in a fraud scandal over player transfers in the late 1990s, Louis-Dreyfus said he wanted to sell his shares.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.