Mandaric agrees Owls takeover

The Yorkshire Post understands all parties concerned have signed a contract and Mandaric's takeover must now be rubber-stamped by the club's shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting.

The 72-year-old Serbian-born businessman, who will now resign as chairman at Leicester, has agreed a 7million settlement with the club's main creditor, the Co-operative Bank, who were owed 23million.

Other loan note holders, including former Owls chairman Dave Allen, who was owed 2.4million and turned down an initial offer of 250,000 last week, have reached agreement after talks between the respective parties' lawyers yesterday extended through the night.

A club source said: "A deal for Mandaric to buy the club has been agreed by everybody.

"It will all have to be voted on by shareholders, but the reality is that all the senior people that need to sign up to the deal have signed - the bank and all the loan note holders, everybody has agreed.

"Milan has had to put his hand in his pockets. He's had tremendous feedback from Wednesday fans since becoming involved and that made him more determined to do the deal."

Mandaric, who sold Leicester to a Thai-based consortium for around 40million in the summer, will head a three-man board at Hillsborough alongside acting chairman Howard Wilkinson and chief executive Nick Parker after effectively buying Wednesday for 1 after the club's debts have been restructured.

A rival bid from One Wednesday, the fans' consortium fronted by Garry Scotting, and another led by former Owls vice-chairman Mick Wright and director Ken Cooke were both rejected.

The Owls have been keen to conclude a deal before the club returns to the High Court on Wednesday to face the latest winding-up order from HM Revenue and Customs over an unpaid 300,000 VAT bill.

Wednesday avoided a winding-up order last week when they were granted a 28-day adjournment by the High Court over an unpaid PAYE bill of 600,000.

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