Day “ready to do the deal”; BIH may not have approval

Soccer Management Worldwide have tonight insisted that they have the wherewithal to complete their purchase of a stake in Birmingham City. Peter Day, former deputy managing director of Birmingham City told the Birmingham Mail tonight that they “we’re ready to do the deal , as and when, subject to the price being agreed.”

There has been a lot of rumour around Birmingham that the North American investment fund backing SMW had pulled out which was denied by Day who confirmed that his group were looking for a swift resolution to deal so that they could be involved ready for the new season. Day also confirmed that heads of terms of agreements has been sent by SMW to BIH’s Hong Kong lawyers.

While SMW may be confident that they can seal the deal there may be issues on the other side of the world. Earlier today this website revealed news from sources in Hong Kong that HKSE was making preliminary enquiries into the conduct of BIH during the audit of their 2011 accounts and I now understand from a couple of sources that there is no approval from HKSE for the sale of any stake in Birmingham City PLC at all. It has been rumoured that HKSE are investigating Jeremy Wray’s unilateral declaration of a three week exclusivity period which has not been supplemented by an announcement to the stock exchange but there is no way of independently verifying this.

As much as SMW seem confident that they can do a deal I do not believe it will be done quickly – even if all the money is in place behind them it appears that there are issues within BIH itself in meeting the regulatory requirements placed upon them. There may well be a willingness to do the deal here but it will need to be approved by the stock exchange and if they insist (as is potentially possible) that BIH diversify their interests prior to the disposal of any part of BCFC there could be a very real bump in the road with the holding company still being short of money.

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