On Friday afternoon Birmingham Sports Holdings confirmed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the news that I had feared on Wednesday; that the Circular for shareholders relating to the takeover of Blues was to be delayed. The announcement confirmed that the Circular will now be despatched on or before June 30, 2023.
Prospective new owner of Birmingham City Tom Wagner was featured on a Bloomberg “Masters in Business” Discussion on Youtube on Thursday, talking with other hedge fund founders about how the business works.
Birmingham Sports Holdings made a supplemental announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday afternoon to clarify certain points about the deal that has been agreed to sell a stake in Birmingham City to Shelby Companies Limited. The four page announcement was designed to answer questions shareholders might have but has seemingly just caused more for Blues fans.
A tweet from Fabrizio Romano suggesting that young Blues midfielder Jobe Bellingham is to make the move north to Sunderland set Blues social media alight on Thursday. The tweet reported a fee of £3M was agreed and a medical was to be done in the next ten days.
While the work on the pitch is now done for the season, the work is now very much underway for Technical Director Craig Gardner and his recruitment team. The next few months are going to be crucial in getting a squad together which can offer the same positivity on the pitch the Shelby Companies takeover is offering off of it.
On Friday the EFL announced that Birmingham City had entered into an Agreed Decision with regards to the investigation into breaches of the Owners and Directors Test (OADT) during the attempted Maxco takeover. The club have been issued with a two point deduction, suspended until the end of the 2023/24 season.
Late on Monday night, Birmingham Sports Holdings finally posted an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange relating to the sale of part of their stake in Birmingham City to Shelby Companies Limited.
While the Blues season petered off to a 17th placed finish thanks to a 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United, the attention of most fans was focused on matters off it. Confirmation that sale and purchase agreements have been signed was just the news that fans had been hoping for and the mood around the pubs pre-match was as happy and uplifting as it could be.
Birmingham City have confirmed on the official club website that Sale and Purchase Agreements have been exchanged between Shelby Companies Limited and BSH, Oriental Rainbow Investments Ltd and Achiever Global Group Ltd which will see SCL own 45.64% of the club along with St Andrew’s Stadium.
While the season drags to a rather unsatisfactory finish on the pitch, discussions surrounding the make-up of the Blues squad next year are springing up around on social media and forums. Much of this talk has centred on the fates of some of the younger members of the squad thanks to transfer rumours in the newspapers among other things.
