West Brom takeover talks

A group that includes Egyptian businessman Mohamed Elkashashy and Manchester-based sports lawyer Chris Farnell are in talks to buy a minority stake in West Bromwich Albion that could eventually lead to a full takeover.  

Farnell in my view needs to be treated with some caution. Farnell was briefly disqualified from becoming a football club director in England, although he later successfully appealed against the ban. He was also cleared of any wrongdoing by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority. 

West Brom are currently owned by several Chinese firms and businessmen but the controlling shareholder is Guochuan Lai, who runs the club’s parent company Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited. 

The web of Chinese owners that is led by Lai have been in charge at The Hawthorns since the Chinese businessman paid more than £200million to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s 88 per cent stake in the club in August 2016.

Elkashashy and Farnell have previously been linked with bids for Charlton Athletic and Burnley, and they were first approached by Lai’s representatives about an investment in West Brom in 2020, shortly after their bid for Burnley failed.

West Brom, who finished in ninth place last season, three points off the play-offs, are valued in the region of £75million, which represents a significant loss on Lai’s initial investment. This reflects the club’s Championship status, recent financial performance and the fact they are about to embark on their first season without Premier League funding, via the money shared between top-flight clubs or parachute payments for recently-relegated ones, since 2002.

Action For Albion is one of the fans’ groups that have been campaigning for a change of ownership at West Brom.

Lai has also been criticised heavily for taking a £4.95million loan out of the club in March 2021 to support one of his other businesses and subsequently failing to meet two repayment deadlines.

The debt, which now stands at over £5million with interest, remains outstanding, as does a further debt of around £5million resulting from a £3.7million loan taken from the club by Peace which Lai inherited when he took over.

Last season West Brom took out a high-interest £20million loan from MSD holdings, secured against club assets including their stadium, The Hawthorns, to help meet running costs, prompting campaigners to ramp up their protests.