Bok skipper and Masotti 'team up' at Sarries
NEWS: Former World Cup-winning Springbok captain Francois Pienaar and Sharks owner Marco V. Masotti have teamed up in a consortium that has obtained a controlling share in Saracens.
The English Premiership giants and former European Cup champions announced on Wednesday that the Kimono House consortium has obtained a controlling stake in the Saracens Group Holdings Limited.
The six-person consortium includes Pienaar, the 1995 World Cup-winning Bok skipper, and Masotti, whose MVM consortium has a 51 percent controlling share of the Durban-based Sharks.
Nigel Wray, Saracens’ owner for 26 years, has retained “a significant minority shareholding”.
Other investors include Dominic Silvester, Neil Golding, Nick Leslau and Paul O’Shea.
Sarries first announced the £32-million takeover in October, but still required approval from the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby and the London Borough of Barnet.
Pienaar made 44 appearances as a player-coach for Saracens in the late 1990s.
Under his leadership, they defeated the London Wasps to win the Pilkington Cup and also finished second in the Premiership.
