Salford Red Devils takeover update as ‘prime mover’ named and new company registered

The takeover situation at Salford Red Devils has taken a new twist with another big player reportedly involved.

In the first week of February, Salford announced that they had been taken over by a consortium led by Swiss banker Dario Berta with the takeover seeing all debts cleared.

Since then, almost two confusing weeks have passed with the RFL yet to ratify the new owners meaning the Red Devils are still under the restricted £1.2 million salary cap.

That has caused major issues with Paul Rowley’s squad selection for the game against St Helens sparking an RFL investigation, however, there has now been another report on the identity of those involved in the takeover.

Little was known about Swiss banker Berta other than him being the CEO of Matanel but now The Business Desk are reporting that the “prime mover” involved in the takeover is music promoter Saia Kailahi, who is believed to be a friend of Salford’s assistant coach Krisnan Inu.

Salford Red Devils takeover update as ‘prime mover’ named and new company registered

It’s also been reported by The Business Desk that two separate businesses have been formed as part of the takeover with ‘Stadium Salford Group Limited’ and ‘Salford RL Group Ltd’ with the latter of those registered in the past few days on Companies House – the official government source on UK-registered companies.

Salford RL Group was registered on the 11th of February with Kurt Graver registered as the secretary and director whilst Inu Nevada, registered at an address in Swinton, is one of the minority shareholders.

Jacobson Venture Group Limited, owned by Kailahi, are the majority shareholder whilst Graver is the other minority shareholder.

Per the initial report from The Business Desk, the Salford RL Group and Stadium Salford Group Limited have been “seemingly formed for the purpose of acquiring the Red Devils”, with Saia Kailahi the owner of the Jacobsen Venture Group and thus reported to be the new ‘prime mover’ in the takeover.

Salford host Leeds Rhinos at home on Saturday with fans hoping for updates before that game.