More Heat On Sa Rugby As Rejected Equity Bid Ends Up Costing Millions

I suppose these things cost money, said a provincial president about the R14m SA Rugby have to pay after their proposed equity deal with the Ackerley Sports Group ASG fell through.

The SA Rugby Union last week informed their provincial heads that the amount was payable after the agreement reached between the commercial agent and Saru was terminated.

ASG offered to pay R1.4bn for a 20 stake in SA Rugbys commercial rights but the bid was rejected with only six of the 13 voting unions in favour of it. For the deal to be rubber-stamped it had to meet a 75 threshold.

We will just have to wait to see how these things pan out, said the provincial president, who preferred to remain anonymous.

He said the governance review by an independent audit firm to look into the processes that were followed in the structuring of the deal between SA Rugby and ASG should shed some light on the path forward.