Francois Pienaar, Sharks owner part of consortium to buy Saracens

English rugby giants Saracens have announced that a £32 million (R652 million) takeover by Kimono House Limited has been completed.

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The takeover was first announced last October, but was only confirmed on Wednesday.

Kimono House Limited is owned by a consortium of investors including former Springbok Rugby World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar and Marco Masotti, the owner of South Africa’s Sharks team.

Francois Pienaar played 44 matches for Saracens

Pienaar, now 55, who famously led the Springboks to victory at the 1995 World Cup on home soil, made 44 appearances as a player-coach for Saracens.

Other investors include Dominic Silvester, Neil Golding, Nick Leslau and Paul O’Shea.

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Kimono House Limited has bought a “controlling stake” in the group which owns the club and their home StoneX Stadium. Saracens Mavericks netball team is also part of the group.

Nigel Wray, Saracens’ owner for 26 years, has retained “a significant minority shareholding”.

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Saracens have enjoyed their most successful period under Wray, who first invested in the London club in 1995 and took full ownership in 2018.

They were crowned European champions three times in four years between 2016 and 2019 and have won the English Premiership trophy five times since 2011.

Saracens, however, were relegated at the end of the 2019/20 season for repeated breaches of the Premiership’s salary cap.

Nevertheless they still retained a clutch of stars including England internationals Owen Farrell, Maro Itoje, Mako and Billy Vunipola and Elliot Daly and immediately gained promotion from the second tier.