Last week I wrote an article to demonstrate the convoluted nature of the ownership of Birmingham City Football Club, and also to show that what happens on the pitch doesn’t necessarily affect the amount of money the owners make off of it. In this follow-up piece I want to explain to people more about the Hong Kong stock listing and how Birmingham Sports Holdings is valued so highly.
On Friday, I published a lengthy article outlining just how tangled a web the ownership of Birmingham City FC is. In this article I am concentrating on new shareholders in the club Oriental Rainbow Investments Ltd – and why their investment is indicative of issues the club faces.
The sale of 21.64% of Birmingham City plc was approved by shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meeting of Birmingham Sports Holdings yesterday morning in Hong Kong.
Birmingham Sports Holdings confirmed in an announcement on Monday to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the date of an Extraordinary General Meeting to approve the partial sale of BCFC to Oriental Rainbows Ltd. The sale would see Chinese-Cambodian businessman Vong Pech become the largest shareholder in the club.
Birmingham Sports Holdings broke the news on Friday afternoon that they are proposing to sell a 25% stake in BCFC to Oriental Rainbow Investment Ltd, a British Virgin Islands investment vehicle owned by current BSH shareholder Vong Pech. The deal will see Vong Pech become the largest shareholder in the club among other changes.
Birmingham Sports Holdings released their accounts for the year ending June 30, 2020 on Wednesday afternoon. The results confirmed that once again the company had made a loss – although not as great as in previous years. However, coronavirus has clearly had an impact with massively increased borrowing.
Replies were finally received last week by Blues fans who had emailed the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong complaining about omissions made by Birmingham Sports Holdings from their accounts as organised by 1875. The form reply confirmed that BSH were now compliant, leaving fans scratching their head wondering if the scheme worked.
Birmingham Sports Holdings announced to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange their interim accounts for the six-month period ending December 31, 2019 on Friday. While these accounts are unaudited and are for the entire parent company rather than the club they do give us something of an insight into how things are going with the club this season.
I’m proud to confirm I’ve joined forces with the We Are Birmingham website and other fans to do my bit to improve things at Birmingham City. I’ve always held that fans can effect change, and I’m hoping we can prove it. Our first action has been to directly get in contact with Birmingham Sports Holdings Chairman Zhao Wenqing to ensure that he and the owner understand some of the things going on at St Andrew’s. Note that this letter was sent prior to the news breaking about the club being charged by the EFL.
Birmingham Sports Holdings today held their Annual General Meeting in Hong Kong to approve their accounts and re-elect directors to the board.
