It’s been three days since Paul Richardson and Maxi Lopez turned up at St Andrew’s to tell the world that they’d exchanged contracts and were to become the next owners of Birmingham City. While there has been fairly extensive reporting of their meetings with club officials, the silence from Hong Kong has continued.
It’s now been over eight weeks since Blues fans were told in a Birmingham Mail / Mirror report that the takeover was “close”. Despite being told in an announcement to the HKSE three weeks ago that Vong Pech had agreed to sell his share and a “deadline” being given by Bassini of June 30, as Blues fans we still await any official confirmation that any deal has been done.
June has almost come to an end and as it stands, there is no official word that Birmingham City are any closer to being takeover. While there have been rumours about Laurence Bassini visiting B9 in the near future, there has been no direct quotes from the Bassini camp in recent days and his self-imposed deadline of tomorrow may well come and go without anything being completed.
The first official communication that a partial takeover of Birmingham City is underway was made yesterday as Birmingham Sports Holdings made a voluntary announcement to the stock exchange. The announcement confirmed that BSH had been informed by Vong Pech that he was selling his 21.64% stake in Birmingham City plc.
Once again, takeover fever is in abundance in Birmingham City fans. According to the Mirror, even the grammatical tense surrounding the takeover has changed with reports that Laurence Bassini has bought the club. With lots of rumour flying around and precious little actual information I wanted to put together some reasoned thoughts on what the hell is going on.
Radio Free Asia reporter Jack Adamović Davies published a huge investigative report into Wang Yaohui – also known as the elusive Mr King – on Monday night. The report confirms that conclusive proof exists showing that Wang is the beneficial owner of one shareholder in Birmingham Sports Holdings and is a close familial link to Vong Pech. It also goes into detail about Wang’s connections in Cambodia and Cyprus and the legal troubles he is facing.
There’s an old cliché that a week is a long time in football. The last three weeks must have felt like an eternity for some Blues fans as days continue to tick by without any official confirmation on the status of the stadium repairs, Lee Bowyer or the rumoured takeover. With June almost upon us the club remains in stasis waiting for movement from anywhere.
Despite reports that one bidder for Birmingham City has been granted exclusivity, rumours of other interested parties have been rife in the British press. However, in Hong Kong the situation is very different with no confirmation from Birmingham Sports Holdings of any bids for the club. How long can this silence go on for?
The football season may have come to a close, but takeover season appears to have well and truly started. News broke on Saturday morning of an offer for the club brokered by Keith Harris, with journalist Neil Moxley claiming that the deal was close and could be done by the end of the month.
The accounts for Birmingham City’s 2020/21 season were published on the Companies House website on Tuesday. The accounts make for some grim reading thanks to the restrictions placed upon the club by the Covid pandemic and confirm just how important the sale of Jude Bellingham was to the continued existence of the club.
