West Brom

[Rotherhithe Canary 0]

Can someone explain how West Brom's takeover (as reported on BBC yesterday) was completed in less than 12 months but our 'partial 'takeover is still rumbling on 2 years later? We keep being told that the EFL are side tracked with clubs that are in financial difficulty, hence the delay but this clearly can't be the case, as West Brom should be behind us in the queue?

[shefcanary 2,409]

34 minutes ago, Rotherhithe Canary said:

Can someone explain how West Brom's takeover (as reported on BBC yesterday) was completed in less than 12 months but our 'partial 'takeover is still rumbling on 2 years later? We keep being told that the EFL are side tracked with clubs that are in financial difficulty, hence the delay but this clearly can't be the case, as West Brom should be behind us in the queue?

I would love it, really love it, if someone could. But no-one out there wants to let us fans know wassgornorn! Poor show all round in my view, from the EFL, the club and Attanasio as investor.

Come on guys, what's the story? And don't just say that it's complicated.

[Icecream Snow 761]

This is from the Athletic 

Florida-based businessman Shilen Patel has completed his takeover of Championship club West Bromwich Albion.

Patel, who becomes West Brom’s chairman, replaces outgoing owner Guochuan Lai, who had been in control of the club since September 2016.

Patel acquires an 87.8 per cent shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Brom, through Bilkul Football WBA, LLC — a company ultimately owned by Patel and his father Dr Kiran C. Patel.

The proposed price tag is understood to be £10.5million, which will be paid in three instalments over 18 months — £2.5m on completion, £2.5m in August and £5.5m in August 2025. Patel’s group is also taking on almost £40m in debt.

There is the possibility of bonus payments if West Brom are promoted. Go up this season and Patel will pay Lai an extra £18m. Promotion next season would trigger a £10m payment, £5m the following season and £2m if West Brom have to wait until the 2026-27 season.

[Icecream Snow 761]

Lai has been at the helm of the West Midlands club for over seven years after acquiring them from Jeremy Peace in a deal worth over £200m in July 2016.

However, the period has brought turbulence to West Brom, who were relegated from the Premier League in 2018 and despite winning promotion back to the top division in 2020, they were relegated again the following season and have failed to record a top eight finish in either of the two most recent Championship seasons.

The outgoing owner controversially declined to pay back a £5m loan which was paid to one of his other companies in June 2021.

[Crafty Canary 495]

The answer is easy. The WBA takeover didn’t involve owners desperately clinging onto power and reserving the right to kick the takeover into the long grass. 

[Greavsy 2,415]

A partial take over is always going to be more convoluted than a total buy out 

[hogesar 9,676]

The answer has to be something to do with Delia and trainsets surely? 

[Greavsy 2,415]

2 minutes ago, hogesar said:

The answer has to be something to do with Delia and trainsets surely? 

but not Camels! 

[The Real Buh 3,432]

Jelly and Ice Cream when Delia Leaves.

[daz 70]

Best result tonight? 

[Fen Canary 828]

23 minutes ago, daz said:

Best result tonight? 

That I go out on a massive session and somehow end up in bed with Taylor Swift 

[yellowrider120 763]

5 hours ago, hogesar said:

The answer has to be something to do with Delia and trainsets surely? 

Absolutely it is. Took you several years to 'see the light' but welcome aboard!

[daz 70]

And wba leading by celtic Johnston who we were looking at 😳

[PurpleCanary 5,562]

On 01/03/2024 at 12:01, shefcanary said:

I would love it, really love it, if someone could. But no-one out there wants to let us fans know wassgornorn! Poor show all round in my view, from the EFL, the club and Attanasio as investor.

Come on guys, what's the story? And don't just say that it's complicated.

Leaving the EFL bit aside, as far as I can see West Brom's parent company, which is the entity being bought out, is a private limited company, and so unlike us (we are public limited company) does not come under the jurisdiction of the Takeover Code/Panel. This would undoubtedly have simplified the process. A decent sized book could be written on how Norwich City having to comply with the Code/Panel was, er, challenging for the club

[Ken Hairy 3,773]

On 01/03/2024 at 13:22, Crafty Canary said:

The answer is easy. The WBA takeover didn’t involve owners desperately clinging onto power and reserving the right to kick the takeover into the long grass. 

This

[shefcanary 2,409]

3 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

Leaving the EFL bit aside, as far as I can see West Brom's parent company, which is the entity being bought out, is a private limited company, and so unlike us (we are public limited company) does not come under the jurisdiction of the Takeover Code/Panel. This would undoubtedly have simplified the process. A decent sized book could be written on how Norwich City having to comply with the Code/Panel was, er, challenging for the club

Oh, you are responding to something I wrote 3 weeks ago. On reflection my view is clearer as to the delay now.

I understand the bit about a private WBA, but the real simplification is a straightforward share purchase by an individual? One person and their personal wealth to investigate and one transaction / contract to review (a day's work at best).  

Contrast to Norwich where you have at least two direct investments from Attanasio (you could break this down into 5 or 6 separate transactions if the EFL investigates each and every share purchase), a direct investment from Norfolk Holdings which is owned by 3 companies registered in the US, each with multiple shareholders domiciled overseas,  and a number of indoviduals and corporates that has a 16.8% holiding on one of those US companies. And so there are at least (I make it) 5 contracts and related governance documents involved (definitely more though), one of which is a concordat with existing shareholders. Then as you say, there is the Takeover provisions to be reviewed as well. Which is a lot of work.

But, if everything had been in place on 3 October 2022, then it surely would have been sorted by now.

The other complication is that much of what the EFL has to review happened in a drip feed fashion spanning many months, some of it not totally in place until 10 months later. Getting a straightforward timeline is in itself quite a lot of work.

Then you have to take account of the overall workload of the EFL's team. For instance our friends down the road have just added to that! 

End of season for a decision then, maybe before if we are involved in the play offs.

Edited March 24 by shefcanary

[Ulfotto 635]

So reading this right someone bought WBA for 200 million in 2016 and they have sold it for 10 million in 2023. Yikes! 
 

I’m still surprised the amount of people who “invest” in football if anything the numbers seem to be growing but the business model means it is almost impossible to make money from it.

[Nuff Said 5,142]

1 hour ago, Ulfotto said:

So reading this right someone bought WBA for 200 million in 2016 and they have sold it for 10 million in 2023. Yikes! 
 

I’m still surprised the amount of people who “invest” in football if anything the numbers seem to be growing but the business model means it is almost impossible to make money from it.

Which makes it strange that pension and private equity firms think it sensible to throw money at what was until this season a struggling League 1 team. I can’t help thinking when McKenna inevitably moves on and their version of Dean Smith takes over, they’re going to look a little silly.

[Ulfotto 635]

35 minutes ago, Nuff Said said:

Which makes it strange that pension and private equity firms think it sensible to throw money at what was until this season a struggling League 1 team. I can’t help thinking when McKenna inevitably moves on and their version of Dean Smith takes over, they’re going to look a little silly.

High risk is the phrase I would use. If they can go up and they can sell it’s happy days. Saying that it’s private equity they won’t be daft I would imagine they have worked out that if it all goes Pete tong then they could sell the land for houses and make there money back.

[BroadstairsR 2,173]

There's got to be a catch somewhere with all these individuals and complicated organisations  prepared to throw millions away like confetti on English football clubs which are essentially businesses doomed to lose money.

There seems to be a never-ending queue of them lined up ready to pour their money down the drains of places like Ipswich and West Brom, that they had probably never heard of a year before.

I'm lost. 

South Sea Bubble? More like North Sea Bubble to me. When will it burst?

Edited March 25 by BroadstairsR

[BigFish 1,988]

3 hours ago, BroadstairsR said:

There's got to be a catch somewhere with all these individuals and complicated organisations  prepared to throw millions away like confetti on English football clubs which are essentially businesses doomed to lose money.

There seems to be a never-ending queue of them lined up ready to pour their money down the drains of places like Ipswich and West Brom, that they had probably never heard of a year before.

I'm lost. 

South Sea Bubble? More like North Sea Bubble to me. When will it burst?

A lot of people make a lot of money from football:players, coaches, agents, TV, executives, merchandisers, hangers on, occasional speculators etc taking out a lot more than the fans put in. That shortfall is filled by "investors".

[shefcanary 2,409]

20 hours ago, Nuff Said said:

Which makes it strange that pension and private equity firms think it sensible to throw money at what was until this season a struggling League 1 team. I can’t help thinking when McKenna inevitably moves on and their version of Dean Smith takes over, they’re going to look a little silly.

This particular pension fund with this latest transaction have actually recouped nearly all their original investment plus still have more to come. The club, however are still in the same financial **** should they not go up this season and lose McKenna to another club.

[Nuff Said 5,142]

38 minutes ago, shefcanary said:

This particular pension fund with this latest transaction have actually recouped nearly all their original investment plus still have more to come. The club, however are still in the same financial **** should they not go up this season and lose McKenna to another club.

It’s debatable whether they will be any better off financially if they do go up. Although I get that from an investment point of view, it might be the optimum time to realise your gains, I.e, sell up.
 

The choice seems to be either overspend like Forest and get punished, or keep your money, hope for a miracle but expect to go back down, like Luton (and us in previous seasons). The compromise (our last PL season) still ends up hurting financially but doesn’t work.