London-based R3 Sport, a management company set up by Redwood Bank founder Jonathan Rowland, has emerged as a bidder for British Basketball League champions London Lions.
London Lions, the reigning champions of both the men’s and women’s BBL and the most high-profile team in the UK, have been placed in administration following the collapse of 777 Partners’ sporting portfolio.
R3 Sport has made an approach to administrators Hudson Weir ahead of Friday’s 12 noon deadline for formal offers, sources close to the talks told City A.M.
London Lions are expected to fetch around £2m and Hudson Weir is believed to be confident that a sale will be agreed.
More bids have been lodged since the firm went public yesterday with an invitation for offers and there are now at least three firm proposals.
Lithuanian tech hub Tesonet, a shareholder in the country’s Basketball Club Zalgiris, last week claimed to have acquired London Lions, but the administrators told City A.M. that no deal had been done.
“I don’t know where the report came from but it’s not true. We haven’t sold the business,” Howlader said on Wednesday.
“We have set a deadline of Friday at noon for bids for the trading assets of London Lions. We are expecting three offers. Two have come in and we are expecting one more.
“All I can say is that the only people who can sell the business are myself and Nimish and we haven’t sold it.”
Tesonet are understood to remain in the frame to buy London Lions, but now face competition from other parties keen to snap up the club.
R3 Sport was founded by Rowland, the son of former Conservative party donor David Rowland, and has to date focused mainly on the fast-growing sport of padel.
Leading padel player Nikhil Mohindra is a co-founder of R3 and his GB team-mate Sam Jones is also among the early investors.
Both will be managed by the company, which has also signed Chris Salisbury, brother of tennis Grand Slam winner Joe Salisbury, and British No1 Catherine Rose.
The new BBL season does not begin until September but there is an urgency to do a deal in order to save jobs.
Last week Zalgiris announced on its website that its part-owner Tesonet had acquired the Lions.
It added that Zalgiris was “providing the London Lions with a short-term, three-month loan to cover essential costs, which will be repaid to the Group by Tesonet.”
The British Basketball League has also been left on thin ice by the collapse of Miami-based 777, which held a large minority stake, and had its licence terminated by British Basketball last month.
R3 Sport and Hudson Weir declined to comment.