Saracens' 32 million pound takeover by consortium completed

A consortium of investors including a South African World Cup-winning captain, Francois Pienaar, has completed a 32 million pound ($43.47 million) takeover of Saracens, the English Premiership club announced.

Saracens, five-time Premiership champions, were relegated at the end of the 2019-20 season as punishment for multiple salary cap breaches. But they won promotion back in the next season.

The club announced the takeover in October and confirmed it had been completed on Wednesday.

"The board of Saracens Group Holdings Limited is pleased to announce the completion of the previously announced transaction regarding the refinancing of the group and the acquisition of a controlling stake in the group by Kimono House Limited," Saracens said.

The consortium comprises club chairman Neil Golding and Dominic Silvester and Paul O'Shea, both from Enstar Group, a global insurance group.

Former Saracens player Pienaar, Nick Leslau, the chairman and chief executive of Prestbury Investment Holdings, and Marco Masotti, an owner of South Africa's Sharks rugby team, are also in the consortium.

Nigel Wray, who was the club's owner for more than 25 years, retains a "significant minority shareholding".

($1 = 0.7362 pounds)

(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru)