Birmingham City FC parent enters voluntary receivership

THE parent company of Birmingham City Football Club has gone into voluntary receivership amid allegations of “fractious and inharmonious relations within the management”.

Birmingham International Holdings made the announcement in a statement to the Hong Stock Exchange.

It said that following a board meeting of February 14, the directors had agreed to instruct the company’s legal advisor, Angela Ho & Associates, to appoint receivers.

“The company upon the advice of its legal advisers proceeded to apply to the Court for the appointment of receivers for the company to take all appropriate actions to protect the company and to preserve its assets, to carry on the business of the company and to do all such other things reasonably necessary for the purpose of preserving the value of the company’s assets and its business,” it said.

The application was granted by Deputy High Court Judge Wilson Chan and receivers from Ernst and Young will now conduct the company’s business until further notice.

No winding-up petition has been filed against the company and the company said it was therefore keen to stress it had not been liquidated.

The receivers will take any action they consider appropriate in light of their powers and all the directors of the business will remain but their powers have been handed over to the receivers.

Birmingham City FC has acknowledged the announcement and in a statement of its own said it would continue as a football club and it was a case of business as usual.

“BCFC naturally recognises the impact which this announcement may have on itself and how it may be interpreted by its supporters, staff, media, and the wider domain,” it said.

“The club therefore wishes to explain why the majority directors on the board of BIHL had deemed it necessary to take this voluntary but unusual course of action.

“First and foremost, however the club wishes to reassure its supporters and staff most emphatically that no winding up petition has been filed against the company (BIHL) and that it is therefore not in liquidation.”

BCFC said it could fulfil its obligations as a member of the Football League and would continue to maintain a “strong dialogue” with the board of the Football League on the matter.

In a telling paragraph it adds: “With no apparent resolution to the fractious and inharmonious relations within the management, the majority on the BIHL board decided that it had no other option but to openly and voluntarily request reputable receivers to take over the management of BIHL on its behalf.”

The club’s board said it was committed to working with the receivers to find the best way forward for the greater good of the club.

It said it had spoken with the receivers and they had reassured it that at the present moment, it did not see any liquidity issue with the company.

Under the powers granted to them by the court, the receivers will now try to put together the latest financial information from BIHL.

Shares in the company have been suspended on the Hong Stock Exchange since early December and will remain so.