London Scottish’s acting CEO Joe Flaherty has revealed he has been consulted by the RFU over London Welsh’s proposed takeover.
The Dragons are expected to confirm a deal with a consortium - said to include Scottish sponsors Saudex Global - to bring the club out of administration within the next 24 hours.
The Rugby Football Union, who have the power to rubberstamp or reject the move, were reviewing the finer points of the contract at midday today with administrators Tena Recovery confident of a positive outcome.
Flaherty revealed on Wednesday that the RFU approached him over information they needed to conduct due diligence over London Welsh’s prospective investors.
Saudex, who signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Scottish last summer, seem set to help find the estimated £5million needed to prop up the Welsh exiles over the next two years.
And Flaherty says he was only too happy to assist rugby’s governing body and their investigations in the interests of preserving the game’s reputation.
“The information I provided the RFU remains absolutely confidential,” he said.
“We want to make sure the good name of rugby is continued and interruptions in the RFU’s processes don’t always help.
“We are just trying to assist everyone in the process and the number one thing is to see how we can help our friends at London Welsh.”
The Dragons went into administration last month and had been given until 5pm on Friday by the RFU to come up with a rescue plan and guaranteed funds.
Tena Recovery’s Gareth Roberts was on stand-by to complete the deal yesterday - pending the RFU’s decision - and he was confident of an agreement being struck.
“We have no cause for alarm or concern over the outcome of the RFU’s review. The deal is highly likely to be done and we have everything in place to complete the acquisition ahead of the deadline,” he added.
“It would be improper to identify those involved in any takeover at this stage until everything is completed.”
Nationals Division One Esher are set to be the big winners should London Welsh's take-over stall as they will be promoted to the Championship in their place.
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