Squire Patton Boggs has advised Bridgemere UK plc and Mr. Steve Morgan OBE, shareholders of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, on the sale of the club to Fosun International Ltd.
Established in 1877, the club which became Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (familiarly known as Wolves) in 1879 has had a distinguished history. Wolves was one of the 12 founders of the Football League in 1888, and over the years has amassed four FA (Football Association) Cup trophies and 10 league titles. Currently in the Championship, the club has been owned by Mr. Morgan, Chairman of Bridgemere UK plc, the investment and development group, and Chairman of Redrow plc, one of the UK’s leading housebuilders, since 2007.
Fosun International is a Shanghai-based global investment group, which has some 50 projects worldwide, including investments such as Club Med, Cirque Du Soleil, Folli Follie and Studio 8. In the UK it is particularly known for its investment in luxury nursey brand Silver Cross and international travel company Thomas Cook.
The team advising Bridgemere UK plc and Mr Morgan was led in London by Corporate partner and football M&A expert David Hull, assisted by corporate senior associate Mark Yeo, together with tax and property lawyers in the UK and also from the firm’s Beijing office.
This transaction follows closely on the sale last month of Aston Villa FC, where Squire Patton Boggs acted for former owner and long-standing client Randy Lerner. Championship club Aston Villa was sold to the Chinese conglomerate Recon Group, owned by Dr Tony Xia. Established in 1874, Aston Villa was also one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888 and is a seven-times winner of the FA Cup.
Advising on the sale of Aston Villa, which completed in June after English Football League approval, was a team led by London Corporate partner James McKay and senior associate Mark Yeo. Squire Patton Boggs led by partner David Hull had previously acted for the Shareholders of Aston villa on the recommended take-over of Aston Villa to RAL, backed by Randy Lerner in 2006.
Commenting on the Wolves sale, partner David Hull said: “We are delighted to act once again for a leading, and historic, football club on a major cross-border investment. We have been seeing continued and unprecedented interest in English football among overseas buyers, particularly from Asia-Pacific where the sport is expanding at an exciting pace.”
The purchases of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa follow on from the sale in January 2015 of Sheffield Wednesday FC, where the Squire Patton Boggs sports M&A team led by David Hull acted for owner Milan Mandaric on the sale of the club to Dejphon Chansiri, a Thai businessman and member of the family controlling the Thai Union Group. The firm also acted for Mr. Mandaric on his purchase of Sheffield Wednesday in December 2010, and prior to that on the sale by Mr. Mandaric of Leicester City FC in August 2010. In July 2013 the Squire Patton Boggs team acted for Shahid Khan in his purchase of Fulham FC, and other recent work has included advising Thaksin Shinawatra, former Prime Minister of Thailand, on the recommended takeover of Manchester City FC, and also that club’s later sale to the Abu Dhabi royal family. The team also advised Venkateshwara Hatcheries on the acquisition of Blackburn Rovers FC.
Partner Stephen Sampson, head of the firm’s Sports Industry Group, added: “Once again the corporate and regulatory specialists in our international sports industry group have done an outstanding job in advising on two major transactions in as many months, and getting the all-important league approvals that delay or curtail other transactions. There are a limited number of prestige football clubs in England and, through the work of David Hull, Mark Yeo, James McKay, James Ferrow and others, our firm plays a leading role in the M&A market for these clubs, whether representing club owners or buyers.”
