Simon Hallett explains wait over potential Plymouth Argyle investor deal

Simon Hallett has confirmed talks with the potential new investor in Plymouth Argyle have been taking place since the end of last season.

It has been a lengthy process to get to the stage where the EFL now have some of the documents they need before giving their approval to any deal, and Hallett has given a revealing insight to Plymouth Live into why it has taken so long. Hallett told a Plymouth Argyle Cornish Supporters' Association fans' forum in St Dennis on Monday night that he was 'on the verge of being able to come public with something'.

He stated the new investment would take the club's spending power from the bottom two or three in the Championship to just below halfway, and added that if an agreement was not finalised in time then 'existing investors' would make funds available for the January transfer window.

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Hallett told Plymouth Live: "Every month we have made progress but I keep thinking 'How long does it take to do this?' You have got to remember that we have got me as a shareholder, Argyle Green (led by director Nick Giannotti) as a shareholder, we have got Richard Holliday as a shareholder, and we have got the club to be involved.

"When you do a transaction like this there are two stages before the EFL get involved. You kind of agree in broad terms what the transaction is going to look like. What the valuation is going to be, the percentages that are going to come in.

"This is going to be a multi-stage transaction as well. So you agree what is called a term sheet and it's non-binding but it basically sets out what the intentions of all the parties are. We have had one of those for months.

"Then you have to write a share purchase agreement, which is basically formalising with lawyers what's in the term sheet. You then have to have an agreement between all the shareholders on how things are going to be run after the transaction takes place.

"It takes an age. I need a lawyer separate from the club, which is ridiculous. So you have got my lawyer, you have got the club, you have got the club's lawyer, you have got Nick at Argyle Green, you have got Argyle Green's lawyers, you have got the buyer, you have got the buyer's lawyers.

"Getting them all in the same room at the same time to hammer something out takes ages and I'm disappointed in how long it has taken frankly. I don't think anybody is to blame but I have been shocked at how long it has taken.

"We have now reached the stage where there were various tests that everybody had to go through - the owners' and directors' tests, they have to prove things about their own governance, they have to prove things about where the money is coming from, they have to prove this and prove that.

"All those documents are with the EFL. The share purchase agreement cannot be signed until it has gone to the EFL and approved, so we are doing that now. How long will the EFL take? It's Christmas.

"They have had some of the documents for a while. We have been working with them closely. It's going to take six to 10 weeks if we are lucky, from a couple of weeks ago.

"Just to be clear, we are going to do something in the January transfer window - I'm not going to say how much - and if the money hasn't come in from the new investor then the existing investors will find it."

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