What does Ipswich Town takeover mean for shareholders?

Following a lengthy negotiation period, Marcus Evans has sold the club to a group of US investors called Gamechanger 20.

The deal is understood to be worth £40million and sees Evans remain involved with the club, with a 5% stake in Gamechanger 20.

According to documents filed with Companies House, former Blues bosses such as David Sheepshanks still own several thousand shares.

However, many more shares are owned by fans - even if they only hold a handful each.

Dan Billson, head of the sports law practice at Prettys Solicitors, said all of these minority shareholders would receive an offer for their shares as part of the deal.

Dan Billson, associate solicitor and head of Prettys sports law team (Image: www.stillview.co.uk)

He said: "It appears that the minority shareholders have what are called tagalong rights.

"And that means that as part of the transaction, Gamechanger 20 must offer those shareholders the same par value per share, as it has done to Marcus Evans.

"So they effectively have the option to sell their shares as well."

Mr Billson said under the terms of the deal, Gamechanger 20 was obliged to make minority shareholders an offer but that they do not have to accept it.

"They can keep their shares," he said. "Tagalong rights protect minority shareholders if an offer comes in like this for the majority shareholding of a company."

However, it is not currently clear how much Town fans will be offered for their shares - as the sums stated in the deal will also go towards the property and physical infrastructure owned by the club.

"It's hard to pre-empt how much they will be offered before the offers come in," Mr Billson said.

"Ipswich Town PLC just forms part of the Ipswich Town corporate group. The PLC shares will have their own value but you can't correlate that towards the figures that are being mentioned."