MUMBAI: Swansea City has reportedly described as “absolute nonsense”, news circulating that Sahara Force India F1 team co-owner Vijay Mallya is readying a £110 million ($143 million) offer to take over the struggling Premier League club.
The club, which narrowly avoided relegation last season, would add to the fugitive tycoon’s portfolio of sporting interests, including Force India (which he is said to be in the process of renaming to better attract international sponsors) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore Indian Premier League cricket franchise.
“This is absolute nonsense and we have no idea where these reports have come from,” WalesOnline quotes a Swansea source as having said.
The reports come a year almost to the day after the club was officially taken over by an American consortium led by Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien. The pair have repeatedly dismissed suggestions they will only be at the club for the short term, making clear at a meeting with supporters that they plan to be at the helm for “several years”.
Mallya, who has been declared a “wilful defaulter” by Indian courts as well as being found in contempt of the Supreme Court for failing to make a full disclosure of his assets, is contesting extradition from Britain to India after fleeing to the UK in March 2016.
At the centre of the case is some $1.43 billion in debts and interest Indian banks claim Mallya owes them. He has always contested this sum and maintains that he wishes to agree a settlement.
