West Brom owner Shilen Patel’s net worth and loans situation at The Hawthorns
West Brom now appear to be in capable hands under the watch of majority shareholder and chairman Shilen Patel. Here is the American businessman’s net worth and the loans situation at The Hawthorns.
A new ray of hope shone on The Hawthorns on 14 February when Patel put an end to Guochuan Lai’s nightmarish ownership of the West Midlands club.
West Brom fans let out a collective sigh of relief – and perhaps a few drops of happy tears – when the Baggies announced via their website that Bilkul Football WBA, LLC, a company owned by Patel and his father Dr. Kiran C. Patel, had reached an agreement to acquire an 87.8 per cent shareholding in the club.
The takeover was worth £60million [John Percy], resulting in a massive loss for Lai, who invested £200million when he arrived in 2016 [Express & Star]
Patel’s reign has been promising so far, with the Indian-American determined to repay debts and the team still pushing for promotion.
What is West Brom owner Shilen Patel’s net worth?
Patel has a reputation as a serial investor and, among other things, has a background in healthcare, having functioned as CEO of HealthAxis Group for 10 years before selling his shares in 2022 [The Athletic].
The 43-year-old has since turned his attention towards handling other businesses with the Patel family office, which has assets worth around $2billion (£1.5 billion).
According to BirminghamLive (16 February), his net worth stands at around $100million (£79.5million), while his father Kiran’s net worth is estimated to be around $400million (£318million).
How is Shilen Patel handling loans situation at West Brom?
One of the biggest challenges Patel took on when he acquired a majority stake in West Brom was the loans accumulated under previous owners.
Exactly a month after his takeover, West Brom announced via X that Bilkul Football had repaid a loan owed to the club by Lai’s Wisdom Smart company.
It was a sum of £5million [BBC, 30 March 2023] that Lai took out to sustain his businesses during the pandemic and missed multiple repayment deadlines for.
Meanwhile, the father of three agreed to pay off a £3.7million loan taken out by Lai’s predecessor Jeremy Peace in 2014 by June of next year after an external investigation in August [BBC].
The biggest loan, however, is the one owed to lenders MSD. Lai initially borrowed £20million from them in December 2022 before taking another high-interest one in November 2023, as announced by the club via their website, for the day-to-day operations of the club.
While the club did not reveal the sum borrowed on the second instance, over £30million was owed to MSD in February 2024, as per The Athletic.
Some fans may have hoped that Patel would repay that debt in one go after taking over earlier this year.
However, according to another article by BirminghamLive (13 March), he decided it would be more sensible to stick to the repayment structure that was already in place.
While there is still some way to go before West Brom are relieved of all debts, the new owner is taking a sensible approach towards the issue.
Shilen Patel’s football background
This is not Patel’s first rodeo as an investor in football as he has had a minority stake in Serie A club Bologna since 2014.
The club particularly did well in the Italian top flight last season, finishing fifth in the table under Thiago Motta.
While Patel’s involvement at Bologna is minimal, the club’s running shines a positive light on him as he looks to steady the ship at The Hawthorns.
As reported by Sky Sports via their website in August 2024, the Baggies were restricted by an EFL-imposed business plan in the summer.
The plan was brought in place to avoid the club breaching the EFL’s financial rules and this is yet another challenge Patel has had to navigate during his spell as the West Brom chairman.
Despite that, the team remains competitive on the field as they target a return to the Premier League under impressive head coach Carlos Corberan.
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