West Ham co-owner David Sullivan has revealed the club have offered a 20 percent stake for sale in a bid to help clear their debts.
Sullivan told the Sunday Telegraph he and fellow owner David Gold are seeking to raise 80 million pounds to help reduce debts which currently stand at 110 million pounds, of which 55 million pounds is owed to Gold and Sullivan.
Sullivan believes the upcoming move to the Olympic Stadium means the club is worth 400 million pounds -- almost four times its value when he and Gold bought the Hammers in January 2010.
"We've no desire to give up the whole club," Sullivan said, "but we're still 110 million pounds in debt, albeit now 55 million pounds of that is to ourselves. So the third-party debt has been halved, but only because we've put the money in.
"We lost 30 million pounds when we went down [to the Championship in 2011] and we made 10 million pounds on paper last year. What's on paper is not cash-flow and we have to pay down the debt all the time and we have to be clear of bank debt when we move to the Olympic Stadium.
"I'd love someone to come in and buy 20 percent and the money would not go to us, it would go to the club. But we won't be giving it away and we'd want market value for it.
"Going to the Olympic Stadium, we are a 400-million-pound club and that would pay down most of the debt. But if it doesn't happen we'll dig deep in our pockets and keep the club afloat."
With West Ham challenging at the top end of the Premier League after an outstanding start to the campaign, Sullivan also admitted he did not yet know if manager Sam Allardyce -- under pressure seven months ago -- would sign a new contract with the club.
"I must say if come April we are where we are now, which is extremely unlikely but is possible, we'd probably sit down a month early and say, 'Look Sam, do you want to stay or do you want to go?' Sam may decide he wants to go out a winner," Sullivan said.