Birmingham City FC have issued the following statement on the club website denying recent sale rumours:
‘Birmingham City wishes to draw a line under recent rumours circulating regarding the apparent sale of the football club. The club wishes to remind and reassure all supporters that any developments regarding the ownership or potential sale of the club will be announced to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange first and foremost.’
Birmingham City FC have issued the following statement on the club website denying recent sale rumours:
‘Birmingham City wishes to draw a line under recent rumours circulating regarding the apparent sale of the football club. The club wishes to remind and reassure all supporters that any developments regarding the ownership or potential sale of the club will be announced to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange first and foremost.’
‘The club has been inundated with messages from supporters reacting to a series of disruptive rumours and speculation. There has been no sale agreed nor is any change of ownership imminent at this moment in time. The process to seek fresh investment for the club continues in earnest and, as ever, the club vows to communicate all relevant and accurate developments on this front as and when they happen.’
Blues have been effectively up for sale for two years. Hong Kong-based parent company Birmingham International Holdings Limited (BIHL) have a 96 per cent stake in Blues. Blues acting chairman and BIHL chief Peter Pannu has been leading negotiations during this time.
Recent speculation concerned a group believed to be British-based and containing local interest. It had been suggested that, after months of talks with Pannu, a deal was recently agreed, although not signed-off.
There have been various parties interested in taking Blues from Carson Yeung’s hands.
Those that have come into the public domain were Hong Kong television mogul Charles Chan’s consortium, Gianni Paladini’s attempt and a recent effort by former Blues vice-chairman Sammy Yu.
For a time there was quite a bit of interest from investors in taking over at Championship clubs as it was seen as a less costly route to the Premiership. Takeovers did occur at Cardiff City, Leicester City and Leeds United. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding Charlton Athletic but the rumoured price of £40m was seen as being on the high side.
It may be that there are now relatively few quality investors on the market and those that still are active are price sensitive.