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.
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.
It’s been just over a week now since the HKSE announcement from Birmingham Sports Holdings confirming that Vong Pech had agreed to sell the 21.64% stake in Birmingham City plc that he owns. Since then there’s been a fair few newspaper articles, a radio interview complete with wild promises and potentially libellous accusations – but nothing of any actual official value. What’s going on?
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.
Despite the best efforts of Millwall fans to storm the Kop on Saturday, I think the biggest Birmingham City news over the last few days has been rumours of the club being sold. While rumours of buyers making bids are always out there, this bit of gossip seemed to gain life of its own online.
There have been better weekends to be a Blues fan. Losing 4-2 to Coventry having been 2-0 up was a bitter pill to swallow, but getting humped 6-1 away to Blackpool the very next game just shows what a mess the team is in. Lee Bowyer looked a broken man sitting in the dugout at half time, and his post-match interview only seemed to confirm he’s losing the will with some of his players.
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.
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?
