Titans founder Michael Searle says he’s ready to sell his $4.4m shareholding in the club
PETER BADEL EXCLUSIVE
The Courier-Mail
February 05, 2015 12:00AM
MICHAEL Searle is set to sever his last links with Gold Coast rugby league, with the former Titans boss ready to sell his $4.4 million shareholding in the club he helped create.
The Courier-Mail can reveal Searle has advised the Titans board he is prepared to offload his stake to potential investors as the club fights to attract sponsors in a volatile commercial market.
Speculation on Wednesday suggested the NRL was ready to step in and take over the Titans’ licence amid fresh concerns over the club’s financial health.
But Titans chairwoman Rebecca Frizelle vehemently denied the Coast are in strife, saying the club’s board, including white-knight investor Darryl Kelly, is committed to their survival.
Searle, who clinched the Titans’ licence in 2005, resigned as a board member last August, but has maintained a presence at the club via his 39.1 per cent shareholding.
Many potential sponsors have viewed the Titans as a damaged brand since Searle, as former managing director, presided over a $25m debt which nearly bankrupted the club in 2013.
However, on Wednesday Searle confirmed he is prepared to sell his shares, via company GCT Investments, in a move that would terminate his 10-year association with the Titans.
“If approached, we would consider a sale or even a dilution if a new investor wanted to get involved in the Titans,” said Searle, who once held as much as 80 per cent of the club’s shareholding.
“I only ever got involved with setting the club up to bring rugby league and the NRL back to the Gold Coast.
“We just want to see the club and rugby league succeed and prosper on the Gold Coast and Northern NSW for many years to come.”
The Titans’ shareholding has undergone a number of changes in recent years.
Searle is currently the club’s second-largest stakeholder with 42,584 of 109,000 shares, comprising a total value of $11.26 million.
Kelly is now the club’s largest shareholder with 47.2 per cent, leaving India-based Ashuman Magazine with a 13.7pc share.
Searle’s stake is valued at roughly $4.4m, a figure at which potential investors may baulk at given the Titans’ recent on and off-field struggles.
But with the club clearing the decks and preparing to rebuild its playing roster around Manly superstar Daly Cherry-Evans, as revealed exclusively by The Courier-Mail on Wednesday, better days may be ahead.
Frizelle said the Titans board would welcome any prospective investment but dismissed fears the NRL’s 16th team is in danger of going broke.
“We are not going anywhere and we have the support of the NRL,” she said.
“We are doing it tough financially, but we are not the only NRL club finding it hard and I’ve had conversations this week with four potential sponsors.
“We are happy to talk to people who want to invest in the Titans and further strengthen it on the Coast.
“There was an absolute lack of trust in the Titans, but under the new board, our guiding principle has been openness and transparency.
“The baseline is we aren’t going anywhere ... the more people who want to get involved can only make us stronger.”