Norwich City shareholders Lenore Sports Partners (LSP) have bought a 5.24% stake in Portuguese giants Benfica.
Correio da Manhã report that Benfica reported to the market yesterday that they have a new qualified shareholder in LSP.
The Norwich City shareholders have bought 5.24% of the Portuguese club. 3.28% of these shares were bought for €5.33m in an auction of shares formerly held by Luís Filipe Vieira’s former shareholding, which had been seized by Novo Banco and then auctioned.
The statement does not explain how the other 1.96% was acquired. The newspaper, though, states it would have either been on the stock exchange or via individual shareholders.
Correio reports that it’s known the heirs of the late José Guilherme, a civil engineer who played a decisive role in the construction of Benfica’s stadium, the Estádio da Luz, were willing to sell their 2%.
More shares are available via José António dos Santos, who is willing to sell his 16.38% but the Norwich shareholders have not moved to acquire these.
They still need to have the 5.24% they’ve bought ratified as Benfica are contesting the purchase. They argue that they had a right of purchase on them, despite an enforcement judge deciding otherwise.
The Eagles plan to question if it complies with the club’s statutes when it comes to “competing entities”. They hope to use the fact that Mark Attanasio is the majority shareholder at Norwich City to try to block the move, and Benfica’s board clearly see the purchase as hostile.
