The new Chinese owners of League Championship side Birmingham City "have vowed to take the English club 'from strength to strength' after becoming the latest Asian group to invest in European football," according to Paul McClean of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Trillion Trophy Asia, a group controlled by Hong Kong businessman Paul Suen, on Monday "completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in the English club after a two-year exclusivity period."
Suen, a "serial investor" in small listed companies in Hong Kong, now owns 50.6% of the shares in Birmingham International Holdings, the club’s Hong Kong-listed parent group, "following a complicated restructuring." The deal values the Championship club at £12.3M ($15M).
The deal brings to an end the club’s ownership by Carson Yeung, who was jailed for six years in March '14 after "being convicted of money laundering." The deal "is the latest sign of the Asian money that has flooded into the European football market in the past two years." Chinese investors "have been particularly busy in the British West Midlands, with four clubs in the region now controlled by Chinese owners." Tony Xia bought Aston Villa for £76M in July, West Bromwich Albion was sold to Chinese investor Guochuan Lai in August and Chinese conglomerate Fosun Int'l bought Wolverhampton Wanderers in July (FT, 10/17). The BBC reported in '15, Suen's TTA was "granted a two-year exclusivity period to negotiate the purchase" of the club. A club statement said, "A line can formally be drawn under the old regime and we can continue to plan ahead for a brighter Blues future." Receivers Ernst & Young "had been running the club since February 2015, after their parent company BIHL went into receivership."
Former banker Panos Pavlakis "has been in charge of the day-to-day running of operations as director" since '14, but neither his future -- nor the make-up of the club's board under Suen's ownership -- "is yet clear" (BBC, 10/17). The PA reported shares in the club's parent company Birmingham Int'l Holdings Ltd. "resumed trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday" (PA, 10/17).
