Bath owner Bruce Craig against £275m Premiership Rugby takeover bid

The £275million offer tabled to buy Premiership Rugby looks likely to be blocked by at least one of the clubs.

Talks with Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners, who previously had ownership of Formula One, have been ongoing for around a year.

Such a deal, though not imminent, would represent the biggest shake-up of the professional era and rugby’s governing body, the RFU, would be powerless to stop it going ahead.

However, any potential buy-out of the league needs unanimous agreement from the clubs and Bath owner Bruce Craig would be opposed to such a deal.

Craig told The Times: “Life is about control. When ceding control, you need to be very careful. Losing control, you don’t get it back.”

The Bath owner’s argument — believed to be shared by some other owners — is that £275m for a 50 per cent stake undervalues the Premiership brand at £550m.

The clubs will meet on Tuesday for lengthy talks over the proposals, the details of which came to light on Wednesday.