According to the Sunday Times, the Lions Rugby Union have turned to their own vice-president as the new investor in the union since their deal with the Guma Group turned sour.
HAVING made a leap of faith in their previous choice of equity partner, the Golden Lions have now sourced a suitor already entrenched in their structures.
The Lions are firming up a new equity deal with Altmann Allers, the union’s vice-president and owner of Glasfit.
Allers will take a 49.9% stake in the union and already his rise has drawn clear parallels with a former investor who helped create an empire at Ellis Park before it spectacularly unravelled in the late 1990s.
“No, I’m much better looking than Dr Louis Luyt,” Allers quipped when reminded of the comparison.
“I am a reluctant investor who has no intention of having that kind of prolonged involvement. I’ve got my own business that keeps me busy and I’m active at my club, Pirates, and at school level.”
Allers said he would source other investors once the deal was concluded.
“I will look at like-minded individuals and entities to join us. I know some people might wonder about BEE credentials, but those are the type of investors I will be looking at.”
The Lions’ equity deal with the BEE- compliant Guma Group, turned sour within six months of its consummation last November.
As first order of business, Allers insists the union has to adapt to its circumstances. Players wages, he feels, are disproportionate to local rugby franchises expenditure. “We simply can’t compete with the salaries paid in France. People have to be realistic. Players wages and professional rugby expenditure used to make up around 80% of total expenditure. That needs to be between 50 and 55%,” said Allers.
“We also need to reposition the Ellis Park precinct as a centre of entertainment,” he said.
Lions’ president Kevin de Klerk expects the equity deal to be concluded in the coming weeks. “A thorough audit is being conducted and we will cut dead wood where necessary.”
GBS
Thanks for posting this. I was going to do a story on it but wasn’t aware it was in the press already.
This deal is actually one of those that was rejected in favour of the GUMA deal.
My sources tell me that it was actually a far better deal, but not as “news-worthy”.
Allers is a good no nonsense sort of bloke who in the past has always been keen to ask the right questions at the right time.
The question is, was Mr Reyneke seen as dead wood that needed cutting, and what is / was the relationship like between Allers and Reyneke? (I may have an insight into that!)
1 @ Scrumdown:
Not so chuffed that he considers it a short term solution and an “Reluctant Investment”
2@ grootblousmile:
That is certainly a different storyline to the one I heard a few months ago!
3 @ Scrumdown:
Well at least their finances are sorted out for now…
It’s just another illustration of how reluctant people are to make real changes – as with the Guma deal. The’d rather go with something or someone more familiar like Allers. Real change is hard.
Hopefully this will open the door for some decent investment, and partners that really love the game of rugby and the GLRU, not someone looking just for publicity.
@ Lion4ever:
And how do you decide who really loves the game of rugby? Of course it’s easy! If they have different ideas to you, they don’t really love the game.
@ Lion4ever:
How do I decide if they really love rugby and put the interests of the union first? I look at what the present people have done to and for the union over the last decade AND then I see if their opinion is worth respecting!
The Lions should be looking at models of the franchises that work and that are profitable. Natals main attraction is…family entertainment, this is a good long term policy and one that all the other “good” unions have emulated. Ahlers talks about turning Ellis park precinct into an “entertainment” venue…well, lets see what they come up with. Involvement with clubs with young teams, school teams and development teams will give them the right long term future. If the kids become interested, it then takes care of Saturday afternoon and people will come in their droves. I still say Ellis Park is in the wrong place though, you can’t have the kind of after match atmosphere that they generate in Natal and the Cape for instance….its a mission to get home. The few times I went to Ellis park we either battled like hell to find parking at exorbitant rates or if we caught a bus/coach, invariably it was a bloody rush to get back to it and the drivers were ill disciplined on timing. Public transport is non existent, unless guys could make the paradigm shift and make an arrangement with the taxi associations for a standard price back to the further suburbs etc Kings Park is easy as is Newlands and doesn’t have the frustrations of Ellis Park.. Nah…they should never have taken another contract to stay at Ellis Park. Loftus has some parking difficulties but at least is still in a reasonably decent area and your cars get looked after properly….not like the fly by night operators at Ellis Park. Golden Lions haven’t thought this through. I should come and do a SWOT analysis for them….and get a few intelligent fans to participate in this.
9@ 4man:
Sorry but I can’t agree with most of what you say.
Anyone who hasn’t been to the Ellis Park Precinct in the last 2 years has NO IDEA what it’s like.
I had the great displeasure of attending a test at Kings Park in 2008 when the Boks played Aus. Frankly, getting near to our supposed parking space was a nightmarte with a capital F.
The parking spaces were all taken despite having paid for a ticket, and the attitude was “tough shit”.
Ellis Park has FAR MORE parking spaces than Kings Park, Newlands or Free State Stadium. Ellis Park also now has acres of space around the ground for socialising after the game. More I would venture to say than the “b” field at Kings Park provides.
Granted, if you don’t know the best routes into the Stadium / Area you need to be at, it can be a b@ll ache in the traffic, but my experience of 90 minutes from the Beverly Hills Hotel to the parking area at Kings Park tells me that all of Ellis Park’s protractors are actually living in cloud cookoo land pertaining to it being the worst Rugby stadium to get into and out of.
I believe that the Urban revitalisation taking place within the JHB CBD will soon spread across End Street to Doornfontein, and the area’s remaining eyesores will be erradicated.
GO THE MIGHTY LIONS!!!!
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