Ken Bates clears up Leeds ownership mystery

Wed 4th May 2011 | Clubs Ownership

Ken Bates has become a controlling shareholder in Leeds United in a bid to end the mystery over who owns the club.

A statement released today by the club read:

There has been much speculation in the media as to the ownership structure of Leeds United and its compliance with the relevant regulations of The Football League and The Football Association.

The speculation has been further fuelled by the coverage of the Football Governance enquiry and the political obsession with the ownership of Leeds United.

Both the Football League and the Football Association have confirmed that the current ownership structure of Leeds United complies with both their regulations.

The scaremongering arising out of the football Governance enquiry has not been helpful and, whilst the Board were always confident that there were no issues, recognise the concern the unknown outcome of any Premier League questions, may have on our Members.

To address this issue and in the hope that this brings an end to the speculation, the chairman, Ken Bates, has completed the purchase of FSF Limited for an undisclosed sum. FSF Limited is now owned by Outro Limited which is wholly owned by Ken Bates.

This change in ownership structure makes Ken Bates the controlling shareholder of Leeds United and delivers the transparency sought.

The club have now gone as far as to clarifying the ownership structure on their official website which read:

Leeds United Football Club Limited ('LUFC') the company that holds the share in the Football League, is a member of the West Riding County Football Association and an Associate Member of the Football Association.

LUFC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Leeds City Holdings Limited ('LCH').

LCH has five unconnected shareholders, four of these hold 27.15% collectively with no one of these holding more than 10% of the issued shares.

FSF Limited (a company incorporated in Nevis) holds 102,000,000 or 72.85% of the issued shares.

On the 26th April 2011, FSF Limited was acquired by Outro Limited.

Outro Limited is wholly owned by Mr K W Bates and is registered in Nevis, West Indies.

On this basis, Mr K W Bates is deemed to be the controlling shareholder of LUFC.

The revised details have been submitted to The Football Association, The Football League and the Premier League in accordance with their regulations. Further to the submission of these details both the Football League and the Premier League have confirmed that the new ownership structure satisfies their regulations.

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