Anonymous West Brom shareholder speaks out amid behind-the-scenes mystery
An anonymous West Brom shareholder has spoken out about the controversial management of the club’s finances.
Speaking to iNews on Friday (25 August), the shareholder slammed Albion’s failure to respond to questions about a series of loans sanctioned by both Jeremy Peace and Guochuan Lai.
According to iNews, the shareholder is “a vastly experienced businessman with decades of financial and legal expertise” and due to the sensitivity of the discussion, he wanted to remain anonymous.
He said: “This is a story of financial gymnastics, mysterious loans and unanswered questions. Not once, but twice.”
Shareholders For Albion (S4A), who are minority shareholders at The Hawthorns, sent 38 questions to West Brom’s ownership in May with a focus on a series of loans.
Lai’s £4.9million loan to Wisdom Smart Corporation and £2million loan from Warmfront Holdings were asked about, as well as the now-£5million owed to the club due to a loan Lai inherited from former owner Peace.
West Brom director Xu Ke responded to S4A’s email by saying: “Shareholders of English companies are not entitled to the type of detailed information you request.”
According to iNews, one shareholder claims to have had his email account blocked by West Brom three years ago for asking questions but it is understood that it has since been reinstated.
Are West Brom in debt?
Yes, and to put it mildly, it could be catastrophic.
West Brom owe £2million, plus interest, to Warmfront Holdings but that pales in comparison to the £20million owed to MSD Holdings.
As confirmed on 28 December last year, the £20million loan from MSD is secured against all assets owned by the club, including the stadium, the training ground and more.
Ke, also known as Ken, said that the loan was secured to “support the funding of its general business operations”.
It remains to be seen what such a vague description means but it’s unlikely to have gone towards strengthening West Brom’s first-team squad as with just a week left of the summer transfer window, Carlos Corberan has only been able to sign Josh Maja on a free transfer and Jeremy Sarmiento on loan from Brighton.
Dara O’Shea was sold to Burnley for £7million, Kean Bryan, Jake Livermore, Tom Rogic and David Button have been released and Karlan Grant and Taylor Gardner-Hickman have been loaned to Championship rivals.
West Brom’s parachute payments have dried up and tens of millions are owed to a number of different companies.
However, there is some money still owed to West Brom but the £5million loan paid to Wisdom Smart was written off in the last set of accounts and the loan initially taken out by Peace has no repayment date attached to it.
It’s unlikely that Albion will see that money any time soon – if ever. But there’s no doubt that the bailiffs will come knocking if those Warmfront and MSD loans aren’t repaid and Lai doesn’t exactly have a great track record of meeting deadlines.
In other West Brom news, an Aston Villa player has reacted to West Brom’s latest signing.