Foundation of Hearts expected to be sole remaining bidder after deadline

Hearts joint administrator Bryan Jackson believes “one or two” of the groups bidding to buy the club could exit the race following the deadline to prove their funding.

The administration-hit Jambos have three parties looking to buy them – fan-ownership vehicle Foundation of Hearts, American-backed HMFC Ltd and Angelo Massone’s Five Stars Football.

All three have been asked to show where their money is coming from by the end of Wednesday and Jackson believes that the field could be narrowed once he has seen the details.

The BDO partner said: “I’d imagine that one or two could fall away – they produce some sort of proof of funding but we need to decide if that’s strong enough for us.

“I can see us making a decision on one or two of the offers that come in after close of business today.

“We will need a couple of days to look at what we have but we may still have to go back to the interested parties to clarify one or two things.

“Hopefully we can move to preferred bidder status within a couple of weeks.”

A CVA at Hearts still hinges on former parent company UBIG entering administration in Lithuania.

The holding company is expected to have a court-appointed insolvency process confirmed some time in August.

At that moment BDO would be able to start negotiating to release UBIG's 50% shareholding in Hearts.