As the Laurence Bassini and Keith Harris-led takeover “deadline” of June 30 came and went, Birmingham Sports Holdings did in fact make an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. However, rather than inform shareholders that it was selling the club, the only news BSH had the was departure of director Hsiao Charng Geng.
In the final part of my series of articles based on my trip to Cambodia in March 2022, I have taken a look into the elusive Mr King, Wang Yaohui. While Wang was born in China, I’ve previously published a copy of his Cambodian diplomatic passport in the name of Wan Sokha and mentioned his connections with businesses there. Were the rumours of his connections with Vong Pech true?
In the second of my series of reports from what I learned in Phnom Penh, I want to talk about the businesses Vong Pech owns. One of them, Graticity Real Estate Development Ltd own a stake in Birmingham Sports Holdings and provide one of the streams of revenue that the Hong Kong listed company have that isn’t Blues. The big question is though how much money is coming in from Cambodia – and will it ever be enough to potentially help release BCFC from its Hong Kong parent.
Last week I visited Phnom Penh, Cambodia to attempt to understand and report more about the convoluted ownership of Birmingham City. While the appointment of Ian Dutton as Managing Director in Birmingham has bought some much needed change to the way the club Is being run on a day-to-day level, I wanted to learn more about the owners above him; who they are and what their intentions are.
Not much is known about the current largest shareholder in Birmingham City, Vong Pech. Although he owns just over 40% of Blues via Cambodian development company Graticity Real Estate Development Ltd and BVI investment company Oriental Rainbow Investments, nothing has been forthcoming from Vong about his purchase of a tranche of the club. In this third piece on Vong, I’ve taken a look at another project he part-owns in Cambodia, and it’s links to another Hong Kong listed company.
