West Brom takeover cheat sheet: Guochuan Lai, Shilen Patel and Aston Villa fan loan update
West Brom are flying on the pitch under Carlos Corberan at the moment, with the Spanish boss propelling Albion into the playoff race with an impressive recent run of results.
After 29 matches of the Championship season, Albion sit fifth in the table, 13 points off of the automatic promotion places but four points ahead of seventh-placed Coventry City as they look to cement their place in the top six.
Corberan’s funds and options may have been limited, but the Baggies boss has managed to develop a way of playing that has made West Brom one of the division’s most defensively strong sides and a real threat going forward.
However, off of the field, the situation at The Hawthorns couldn’t be much more different with ownership concerns dominating the talk around Albion as a potential takeover appears to hang in the balance to end Guochuan Lai’s tenure.
West Brom News has assembled a takeover cheat sheet to keep across all the information.
Shilen Patel front runner for West Brom takeover
Baggies’ managing director Mark Miles confirmed back in September that NDAs were in place at The Hawthorns as talks were underway with various parties over a potential sale of the Baggies worth £35million [Express & Star, 26 September].
Three parties were understood to be interested in purchasing Albion, with all understood to have strong links with the United States as a takeover moved closer than ever before under Lai’s ownership.
West Brom took out another MSD loan to help the club keep on top of their running costs before an “outright favourite” reportedly emerged in the takeover race as the preferred bidder to acquire control of The Hawthorns club [BBC Sport, 30 November].
Reports from Telegraph journalist John Percy [12 January] named Shilen Patel as Lai’s preferred bidder, with a period of exclusivity expected to be granted to the American businessman to complete a £30million-£35million takeover of the Baggies.
The Daily Mail [28 January] then suggested that Patel could be able to reach a deal within weeks as talks between all parties involved edged closer to a conclusion.
However, it is now understood that the US businessman holds some fresh “unease” over the deal, primarily because of the sheer amount of debt at The Hawthorns that Patel would then have to take on himself as owner [Chris Lepkowski, 1 February].
Has Guochuan Lai let an Aston Villa fan own West Brom?
West Brom owe Warmfront Holdings millions of pounds and news emerged on Friday (9 February) that the firm owned by Aston Villa fan Alex Hearn had changed its name to AH Holdings after Lai’s loan repayment date passed [The Liquidator Podcast, 9 February].
Such a name change may merely be a coincidence but it was noted that the name change came after Albion’s controlling shareholder’s repayment date to the Brierley Hill-based company had passed.
Former BBC WM journalist, Adrian Goldberg has since cleared up some uncertainty surrounding this process, reinforcing that West Brom is not now owned by Hearn, despite missing the repayment date to his company.
The debt doesn’t belong to the football club itself, but rather WBA Holdings which is controlled by Lai. However, that company’s only asset is an 88 per cent stakeholding in WBA Group, which is the football club.
Where does Guochuan Lai takeover stand at West Brom?
Ultimately, the takeover process at West Brom currently appears to still be hanging in the balance as all parties look to reach an agreement over who completed a deal to acquire Lai’s stake and when such a takeover is completed.
Hearn has been trying to land a deal with Lai for months alongside sports lawyer Chris Farnell, with the pair sending a letter with proof of funds totalling £110million that could be provided to take a minority stake in the club.
There has been no suggestion that Patel has walked away from talks, despite his reservations over the deal, however, you would have to imagine one side will have to change their approach for the American to acquire West Brom in the coming weeks as initially reported.
In other West Brom news, Simon Jordan has namechecked the Baggies live on air in a new admission about Crystal Palace
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