West Brom takeover news: Shilen Patel emerges as Guochuan Lai preferred bidder amid advanced talks – John Percy
Shilen Patel has emerged as the preferred choice for Guochuan Lai in the West Brom takeover process and a period of exclusivity is set to be granted this month, according to John Percy.
The Telegraph journalist reported via their paper’s website on 12 January that the American is now at the front of the queue to complete a £30million-£35million purchase of the club, with the deal set to be worth around £60m when debts are included.
The Baggies are now in “advanced talks” with Patel, who is the founder and chief executive of HealthAxis Group, a software company based in Tampa, and son of Dr Kiran Patel, whose net worth is an estimated $400 million [£314m].
The three remaining parties in the bidding process were named in The Athletic earlier on 12 January, with a group led by Chris Farnell, Mohamed Elkashashy and Alex Hearn, previously thought to be the frontrunners, and the third offer coming from Roman Gevorkyan.
However, according to Percy it is Patel and his group who have “made progress in recent weeks” and appear set to be given the chance to close a deal by Lai.
On the brink
It is perhaps no surprise that Patel appears to have moved into pole position to become the new West Brom owner given Matt Slater in The Athletic had reported his bid was the one backed by fellow Americans MSD Partners, the firm who have now loaned the club £27m.
What may be of more concern to Baggies supporters is the fact that the Patel family, while it certainly appears to have the financial might, has no history in major sports investment.
That fact led to Slater terming the bid from the US the “most unusual”, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the wrong one for the club it does mean there is no track record in the industry to prove one way or the other.
It has been abundantly clear for a long time that the Albion needed new ownership, and when the Lai era is officially concluded it is unlikely to be looked back upon especially fondly by most around the club, but now the prospective new owners are finally emerging focus will obvious turn to their own suitability.
The process still cannot move quickly enough in terms of Carlos Corberan and the actual team on the pitch, with the transfer window rapidly flying by.
The likelihood of anything being concluded before the deadline at the end of the month seems low, which will come as a disappointment in terms of the potential for a takeover to spark some recruitment.
But the bigger picture is that the Baggies have long been waiting for an answer at the very top it is now seemingly very near.
In other West Brom news, the Albion have been backed as Corberan looks to sign a “very highly rated” young talent this month.