World Match Racing Tour, West Ham make plans amid Alpari UK collapse

Sailing’s World Match Racing Tour and English Premier League football club West Ham United have said they are already in talks with new partners following the collapse of main sponsor Alpari (UK) Limited.

The UK arm of the foreign exchange trader entered into insolvency on Friday following the Swiss National Bank’s decision to end its capping of the Swiss franc against the euro. The SNB on Thursday shocked the markets by reversing a three-year-old policy, having previously capped the value of the franc at 1.20 per euro. Alpari said the move had created “exceptional volatility and extreme lack of liquidity”.

Alpari (UK) Limited has served as title sponsor of the WMRT since 2012. The sailing series said: “The World Match Racing Tour is continuing as scheduled, including the final event of the 2014 World Championship in Malaysia from 10-14 February. The Tour will shortly announce its 2015 calendar of events, including two new official stages. With over 250 sponsors involved across all Tour events worldwide, we have already received interest from potential global partners for the coming season.”

Alpari (UK) Limited has been a partner of West Ham since 2011, with the deal being upgraded in February 2013, allowing the company to enjoy the status as the club’s main shirt sponsor. The agreement with the east London club, reportedly worth £3m (€3.8m/$4.7m) per season, was due to run through the 2015-16 campaign.

West Ham said: “The board would like to reassure supporters that Alpari (UK) Limited's situation will have no impact on West Ham United. The club remains in a strong financial position and just last month published accounts showing record revenues and a group profit of £10.3m before tax. The club has received huge interest and is already in advanced discussions with potential new shirt sponsors for next year.”