‘Serious allegation’ made against major West Brom shareholder in China, financial watchdog involved – Adrian Goldberg
One of the major shareholders behind the ownership of West Brom has been accused of “not being straight about their finances” by a financial watchdog in China, according to Adrian Goldberg.
Speaking on The Liquidator podcast on 19 March, the former Birmingham Mail journalist reported that Yunyi Investment Management Shanghai Company, who are shareholders in Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited, who own the Baggies, have been sent a warning by the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau.
Goldberg has had the information shared with him by a source in China – and it’s extremely worrying for Albion fans.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Liquidator podcast (19 March, 22m05s), Golberg said: “We’ve got some new and frankly rather troubling information.
“Albion, as I’m sure you know, are owned by a company called Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited, of which Guochuan Lai is the controlling shareholder.
“You (Chris Lepkowski) passed some information onto me a few days ago and I’ve been able to check it out with my China contact. This relates to a company with a similar name but they are a different company.
“This is relating to Yunyi Investment Management Shanghai Company. They are one of three companies that have an investment in the overall ownership of the Baggies. They aren’t the owners but they are major shareholders in the company that ultimately owns us.
“And here is the really concerning bit.
“They have been warned by the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau – this is the financial watchdog in Shanghai – who have sent a letter to them on 20 February, saying, and I quote, ‘the company failed to truthfully disclose to investors the individual financial data of the underlying investments and failed to disclose to investors the assets and liabilities of the fund and the expenses borne by the fund in accordance with a contractual agreement.’
“That’s very wordy, I know. But essentially, the Shanghai financial watchdog is accusing one of Albion’s key investors of not being straight about their finances.
“That is a very serious allegation and if Yunyi Investment Management Shanghai Company want to get in touch and put another side of the story, we’d gladly broadcast that as well. But we have no means of contacting them.
“We have, however, contacted West Bromwich Albion – as we always do when mentioning these financial stories – inviting them to comment on what this means for the Baggies.
“But, as always, Albion have so far failed to reply. But of course, if they do reply to us, we will carry that in the next podcast.”
Add it to the list
Since Jeremy Peace sold West Brom to Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited in 2016, it’s been bad news after bad news for supporters of the Black Country club.
Lai has overseen two relegations from the Premier League, a huge decrease in the club’s value, multi-millions loans and debts and the first real protests seen at The Hawthorns in a generation.
Even administration has been a talking point.
It’s dark times, indeed, to be a Baggie.
Thousands of Albion fans marched down Birmingham Road ahead of the win over Huddersfield on 11 March out of anger towards Lai’s ruinous reign as West Brom’s controlling shareholder.
Will it have any sway on whether Lai sells up?
It might not, unfortunately. But West Brom fans would be filled with regret if they didn’t at least try.
Action For Albion are doing an incredible job and it’s time for every man, woman and child who dons the famous blue and white stripes to jump on board and get involved in the effort to smoke the Chinese ownership out of The Hawthorns for good.
In other West Brom news, Jed Wallace has spoken about the upcoming clash with his former club Millwall.