Provincial unions have asked for more time to consider the controversial $300m Silver Lake investment into NZ Rugby commercial assets.
The contentious deal with the US private equity firm has divided the rugby community, but seemed to have the green light, when the national body and the NZ Rugby Players Association approved terms that were heralded as a "pivotal moment in rugby in New Zealand".
Silver Lake would contribute $200m into a new commercial entity that will include all revenue-generating assets of NZ Rugby, with another co-investment of $100m offered to NZ-based investors later this year.
The deal has been lauded as offering massive benefits for grassroots rugby, but the unions need an opportunity to reassess the new terms, which are quite different to the ones initially approved last year, which offered more for a bigger slice of NZ Rugby assets.
"This partnership presents rugby with an extraordinary opportunity to secure its future and unleash its true potential," said NZ Rugby chief executive Mark Robinson in February. "We are truly excited by what we can achieve together with Silver Lake’s world class capabilities - from fostering and growing our grassroots, to enhancing the experiences we can create for New Zealanders and truly maximising our potential on the global stage."
Accounts PricewaterhouseCoopers have analysed the contract and are believed to have generally given the deal the thumbs up, but the report was only provided to unions last month.
Two concerns with the deal are that Silver Lake would have to realise some ambitious revenue targets, while NZ Rugby has committed to a comprehensive review of governance structure and processes.
Robinson has told provincial unions the matter won't be voted on at the AGM, but he hopes a special meeting will be scheduled within a few weeks.
"Discussions have been progressing positively with our members, since they were presented with the PWC report last month, but they have asked for more time to discuss some key areas of the overall deal structure and we understand that request," said Robinson.
"We want to ensure members have all the details, before ultimately seeking their approval. We are hopeful this delay will not be a long one, and that we can facilitate a special general meeting in coming weeks to finalise the Project Future investment proposal and move forward with our intended plans.
"As we have said before, we want to get this right and to do that, we are willing to afford our members as much time as possible to be comfortable with our proposal, given its significance and importance to rugby."
