Often Partisan

Birmingham International Holdings Name New Director

Birmingham International Holdings named a new executive director yesterday in an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The announcement confirms that Charlie Penn, 50, is named as an executive director as of April 23. It confirms that Mr Penn has a degree from Peking University and that he has experience in real estate throughout China.

There is no information available online about Mr Penn under his anglicised name; however, his Chinese name 潘岑 – Pan Cen – gives us a lot more background.

This link states that Mr Pan met with representatives of other companies including BIH in Beijing in December 18 – 23 2012 to discuss various strategic partnerships on the Chinese Mainland. Further searches indicate a partnership has been set up to build an industrial park in the city of Hailin (English translation) in North East China – revisiting an idea set up by Vico Hui in December 2011.

I will admit to being sceptical that anything will happen in Hailin – after all, we’ve heard these kind of plans from BIH before that have not come to fruition and as such I’m sceptical of any link that may have been in place – however, it does raise the point that Mr Pan may well have been convinced to put some new investment into BIH.

I don’t think it’s anything at all to build hopes on – indeed, for many I think there may be disappointment that BIH is looking for investment rather than the sale of the club – but it raises the possibility that Pannu and/or Yeung have been successful in attracting new money into the floundering company and thus I will be continuing to monitor this over the coming weeks and months.

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61 Responses to “Birmingham International Holdings Name New Director”

  • Brad Smith says:

    I wouldn’t hold out on the sale this Summer.

    Me and a mate won the ‘meet and greet’ with Callum Reilly before the leeds match and he spoke about the owners with ease and pretty much said that the players have been told that the club won’t be sold at least until Yeung’s court case is over.

    Not sure if that is something we knew, but it didnt put me at ease. When is the most likely finish to the court case? I was aware it could well stretch indefinitely.

    • RUPERT says:

      this club has never been for sale. The last game of last season pannu said in the programme notes he recommended the club be sold, 12 months on nothing. No sale these lot will keep the club or transfer it to another company they will own once they can borrow money again

  • RUPERT says:

    more rubbish coming into our club, when will this end ? No season tickets for my lot this coming season

    • Paul Carter the visionary he says:

      Great fan

      • John says:

        I know of quite a few “great fans” who will not renew if Pannu or his associates are still in charge..For supporters to financially support any club,where the club is being fleeced by its directors,is the height of stupidity. We should all seek, some kind of assurance, that the owners of the club,will be “great fans” of the club and do their utmost to propel the club forward.

        • bluenosegoat says:

          Personally I pay to watch the football and support the club. The football can be dire; the club struggling on many fronts. If I remove mine, and my father’s, season ticket money it will only make it worse. If one cares, now is the time to show it. If you don’t care then go somewhere that attracts supporters like yourself – maybe just a few miles away?

          • mark says:

            in total agreement with you chap on this one………….harsh as it is we need to stand together…..

          • Agent McLeish says:

            Well said sir! Nothing winds me up more than so called fans bleating about not renewing season tickets everytime there is something they disagree with. They probably don’t even have season tickets to start with anyway. Bunch of negative moaners or ‘Tony’s’ as I like to call them.

  • Letsby Avenue says:

    Really Good Research

    YET AGAIN

    It does raise some ‘conspiracy’ type theories though :-)

    Well, one at least !

    A “Placeman” for mainland investment, on the Boiard now !

    Carson has experienced and benifiited through ‘mainland’ financial support – a
    placeman on his board, days before his trial starts….hmmmmm ???

    Dalllas couldn’t cope with this, I doubt that Shakespeare could.

    I think your Mr Pen, AJ, is a watchkeeper and a “placeman” from higher polirical sources….and funders.

    New Director,less than a week before the trial….Gordon Bennet they must think the rest of the World are still up trees scartching armpits.

    Total arrogance.

    • ChrisG says:

      Letsby avenue…..Where did you get the idea this is anything to do with the trial?, BIH is a business which is in need of investment like lots of other businesses, BIH is more than just CY it has several others involved. Love to know where you get your info, maybe you could tell us who the next owners will be & exatly how much they will be putting into the club as you are so well clued up, or maybe you already know the outcome of CY’s trial

  • Mickey07 says:

    Pannu is not going to give up his cashcow lightly is he.

  • Agent McLeish says:

    So BIH have appointed an estate agent to the board; we all know that estate agents all like a bit of commission so he’ll fit in nicely with PP. mmmm, I wonder where the money will come from to ‘pay’ the new estate agent?

  • Atahualpa is a BlueNose says:

    The only investment to be made into BIHL, would be to help BCFC to function. This Penn fella has been made an executive director as oppose to a non-executive. It would indicate that BIHL / CY have still got some unfinished business as far as Blues go. I have always thought that CY would fight tooth and nail to keep control, as our club is the jewel in his fast dwindling empire. Without our club, he loses his main asset and investment. CY might believe that it is worth gambling everything to try and hold on.

  • Paul Carter the visionary he says:

    Hope all you lot who slated me now see that these are not gonna let us go easily. I said all along that the reason they didn’t entertain Paladinis mob is that they were nowhere near to the money BIH want.

    Said all along the club won’t be sold and further Chinese investment would be sought.

    Talking about investments that help BCFC function, is all the money that we pay Pannu good value?

    • Ali Duncan says:

      I have always been worried about Carson and Pannu’s valuation of the club. Clearly I don’t know the minimum offer that would except but, and I stand to be corrected here, they bought the club for c.80 million. I am concerned that they will want to claw an unrealistic amount back when they come to sell and this will price out any sensible buyers meaning it could be a long long time before anything ever happens.

      It might have to take an epic boom in the economy for an offer to reach their currently unrealistic expectations or BIHL have a meltdown and need to free up equity quickly and do sell at a realistic market price but I’m not holding my breath.

      • Paul Carter the visionary he says:

        I agree mate.

        I may be wrong and a guilty decision for Carson may change things but right now I can’t see us changing ownership. There is also the accounting fiasco which all smells fishy as feck. That would put buyers off also

      • Bluenosesol says:

        The potential sale price will not be determined by PP or CY’s valuation of the club. The sale price will be determined by the tipping point at which PPand CY decide they should take what’s on offer and hit the road. That will be determined by whoever makes the first offer to turn the guys heads. A bit like “Open the Box”!

  • Graham Woodward says:

    He’s put Penn to paper

  • Evesham Blue says:

    Why sell when the club is in the Championship? As long as the club is functioning and we have a chance of reaching the Big time again then why sell up now?

    • Graham Woodward says:

      Because we have no income, apart from gate receipts that are getting smaller and don’t cover the day to day costs. Without suitable investment, we’ll end up in Administration. If they can get investment, then yeah they probably won’t sell. If Carson is acquitted, then there might be funds he can invest into the club.

  • Paul Carter the visionary he says:

    Great point Graham.

    I haven’t spoken about our fans deserting their club for some time now as the consensus on here says that it doesn’t matter.

    I never thought I’d see the day when we had to look to scum park for lessons in fan loyalty

    Makes me sick

  • bcfcjayv says:

    Does being an executive of BIH give you much power over BCFC? I was just wondering that the directors may be put in charge of the running of the club if carson is locked up?

  • dave mann says:

    ive got to admit i was one that thought we would sell in the summer
    but as long as were in the championship i think new investment is
    all we can hope for.
    hopefully this time next year, were be on our way back to the
    premier league and a sale will happen because we will have a
    more selable club, and maybe all the armchair supporters will
    come back and we might brake 20,000!!!!!!!!!!.
    KRO.

  • bluejohn says:

    Am I the only person that thinks Carson Yeung could be good for Blues long term? The facts are this; we have won a major trophy under his reign, he is a ‘Blues nut’ and he has also put his own money into the club. If he was not in the position he is currently in, I am sure he would have put even more money into the club. Furthermore, his idea to try to entice thousands of Chinese fans to buy Club merchandise is a brilliant idea. We need to be in the Premier league for this to work, and also need a Chinese player in our ranks. Under the new FIFA ‘financial fair play’ rulings billionaires are not going to be able to pump in squillions of pounds into the club, but money generated from China would be perfectly acceptable.
    Carson Yeung made a huge mistake by promising more funds than he could deliver, but I feel that he got a bit carried away with his obvious delight at owning the club. I personally do not care if Carson Yeung and his crew are not ‘choirboys’ so long as they can bring success to Blues. If Carson is aquitted, I think you will find that he will try to get this club back in the Premier league, firstly because he is a huge fan, and secondly because he needs to ‘save face’, something which is very important to the Chinese. Good luck Carson I hope you are aquitted!

  • dave mann says:

    i agree to an extent but carson and is cronies will get ther asking price
    if we are a premier league side.
    by the way come next season if you finish bottom off the premier league
    you are guaranteed 60 million.
    KRO.

  • mark says:

    on top of that he isn’t even proven guilty yet……just a thought… What alot a big time charlies who still want nail their season tickets to stans, and abstain from buying another one … Absolutely Laughable really, …. nothing going to change….
    IMO carson and pp will probably be still here at our great club next year, sorry to say to some of you, and so will our manager Clark .. . I am sure most of you will get over this.. and move on. alittle less moaning would do .. i might order myself prawn sandwich. read all about it in club programme. get myself ready for next season cannot wait……..c’mon you blue boys…..last two games here we come……. loyal to the end.. just call me old fashion….kro inclarkwetrust..

  • bluejohn says:

    Reply to Dave Mann; I do no think that Carson Yeung bought Blues to make money. He allegedly paid double what it was worth. If he got us into the Premier league and sold up, I could live with that providing it went to the right owners. However, I think he would keep the club because it is not about money for him in my opinion.
    Incidentally, this new FIFA finance rule is going to mean that a lot of clubs will never be able to generate enough money to ‘live the dream’, but Carson’s Chinese fan plan could make Blues the exception to the rule. Here’s hoping!

    • oldburyblue says:

      2 facts not (necessarily) linked. 1. When “dirty” money is laundered into “clean” a great deal of the value is lost as a consequence. 2. It is common knowledge that CY and his associates paid over-the odds for BCFC.

      These are facts. Connected?….

  • The Francis Fake says:

    I have always thought that the club would not be sold before the conclusion of the trial as any interested buyer would know that CY’s position was incredibly weak in terms of negotiation. Moreover, it has become clear that a sale was impossible until all of the governance issues were resolved and accounts were produced. I believe we are now moving to a point where a sale is possible. If CY loses his trial I simply cannot see the current regime hanging on for too long as their position will become untenable. If CY avoids prison and when the asset freeze is removed then he may be able and willing to try to hang on.

  • Paul says:

    Call me a novice, but yeung and pannu are never going to throw the towel in that easy. If you spent £80 mill at at something, even Pannu couldn’t be so stupid as to sell it for 20. After all, they are business men, just not clever ones!!

  • solbluedean says:

    Personally I think CY is more of a naïve dreamer rather than someone that is looking to try and fleece the club. Lets face it he got well ad truly ripped off by our very business astute previous owners when he bought the club, since that time he has ploughed in a considerable amount of his own money and for someone that was not born to have blue blood running through their veins nobody could have looked more obviously over the moon when we lifted the trophy at Wembley. But this is not to say that he is necessarily a good person to be running our club, as I said he allowed himself to be ripped off when buying the club and has since been involved in a board that has signed a series of bad deals, such as the Xtep deal. I have no doubt that had his past activities put him into his current predicament we would have seen him invest more funds after we were relegated to try to ensure a quick return to where we all, CY included, really want to be.

    So this leave the question, dodgy crook or naïve dreamer, is he really a good person to be running our football club?

    PP on the other hand only seems to have one party’s interests in mind in every decision he makes. I think whether CY stays or goes we need to see the back of PP ASAP.

    • jazzzy786 says:

      The question is if that was indeed his own money or dirty money he was laundering. Why would someone spend double what something is worth. Either he is really stupid or he doesn’t care because the moneys not his in the first place. As a rule rich people are usually not stupid.

      • solbluedean says:

        I have had the same thought/question myself, we have often discussed amongst our mates whether the whole exercise was a new place to wash dirty cash. But I would like to think, and possibly it is me being naive now, that in order to make such a huge purchase of a UK company that CY wouild need to have proved where the fnds came from as you do when you buy a house.

        Like I said I am convined that he is a bit of a naive dreamer and he thought that it didnt really matter what he paid for blues as he was going to make that back and more from all the wealthy premier league obsessed Chinse business men that he hoped would invest in China’s very own representatives in the PL.

  • Evesham Blue says:

    Question: can you realistically reach the Prem League with bosmans, loans and academy players? i.e. very little investment? Not saying you cant just asking is it possible?

    • clubclassblue says:

      We could have easily made the play-offs this season if we had not sufferered a high number of long term injuries. We have had a number of particularly poor performances through the season and still not a million miles away from play off spots.
      So in answer to your question, yes I think it probably is possible. Then the bigger problem is how we would cope in the Prem.
      We just have to KRO and hope for a change in fortunes……..and owners.

      • Chris Smith says:

        It was almost done last year too.

        The trick with the prem is to yo yo it and work around that. Have relegation clauses and division related pay in every contract with options that are triggered if you go up or down. Once you have something along those lines you have a lot of control over your finances and keeping a decent squad together. You can effectively build reserves of cash if you do it right.

        Plus there are cup runs to boot…

  • zenzero says:

    Listen, the longer this goes on the more chance we have got at Redmond and our younger players being sold off for pittance. We simply can’t keep selling players to keep the club afloat. We simply won’t have any quality left to sustain ourselves in this division, let alone a prem charge.

  • bcfc1976 says:

    sorry to veer of the subject slightly 1,700 tickets for ipswich game only 200 left on sale.. now thats what you call support.. and I am very confident these will be sold out which in turn will be a complete sell out of our allocated 1,700… Imo we appear to have very fickle st holders, I am in agreement that the standard match day prices at home need to be sorts, we are work class club……..kro

  • bcfc1976 says:

    sorry our allocation will 1900 if all are taken kro

  • Tony says:

    Is it not amazing? People are now saying maybe Carson not so bad and it would be ok if he carried on.
    How on earth could that work out, he has no money even if Aquitted, his dealing and that of Pannu are errrr questionable to say the very least. talk of investment means little, just how much do we need? far more than these guys can provide I would suggest.
    As one who called for Gold and Sullivan to go I am aware of the adage, beware what you wish for, but surely we want rid of these clowns.
    We are looking to buy Bosmans,free transfers etc, we cant even afford 250K for a decent fullback things are very bad and we cant go on like this. There is little doubt Carson was genuine and wanted the best for us but he proved out of his depth, he was conned by the previous Cockney wide boys.
    Time now to salvage what he can and just fade quietly away, I for one will never forget the major trophy and 9th in the premiership, no one can take that away from him its there in the record books.

    • mark says:

      funny that ! you said exactly the same thing about clark eh tony

    • Bluenosesol says:

      When Karen Brady was on Piers Morgan, there was a clip from David Gold who had a massive grin on his face and said that the £80 million that he and his muckers trousered for Birmingham was the best deal ever done in Football. In other words……..???

  • Evesham Blue says:

    Will we start with a 10 point deduction next year if we dont change ownership? Probably only Redmond and Davies are saleable assets now left over

    • Bluenosesol says:

      If the degree of indebtedness and negative cash flow at BCFC is sufficent to put you into admin, then half of the football league will be out of business next season!

  • Evesham Blue says:

    Would it count as a good season for Blues finishing mid table and if Vile and the Dog Heads are both relegated this year?

    • Ali Duncan says:

      I usually class it as a good season if I’ve enjoyed the games, the matchday experience, have been entertained and believe we’re making progress. I’ve written off the first half of the season as a transistional period with a new manager and players but I believe all of my criteria have been ticked in the second half of the season.

      Throw in the Vilers and the Dog Heads going down and it will be a superb season.

  • The Francis Fake says:

    I think many fans are underestimating what a tough task it will be to get back in the Prem following 3 recent promotions in the last decade. Prior to this period we have suffered many years over the past 4 decades where promotion was very difficult. Also although the play off”s sometimes seem relatively attainable you have still only got a 1 in 4 chance even if you make them. We all have bitter memories of play off failures and penalty shoot out losses. I think we are past the time where we worry about what happens if we go up. Being realistic it is going to need a combination of a period of excellent management and some owners that can provide at worst financial stability to have a chance again. I do draw some comfort from the fact that there have been a few teams who have been promoted in recent years who haven’t had the benefit of parachute money.

  • steve says:

    Get real everybody – Peter Pannu pays himself around 700,000 quid a year – why would he want to selll us ?

  • Tony says:

    Similar Mark yes but different reasons Clark had nothing to do with the cup win or 9th in premiership But both do their best alas both are lacking.

  • BhamCityJulian says:

    Being an Executive Director means he has management role and likely a salary rather than a service contract. It doesn’t mean he has invested or bought shares.

    If it real estate he’s looking at will he be making links in the UK to sell Stans?

  • Paul Carter the visionary he says:

    Jules I bought this up on OP some time ago and Dan agreed they could sell St Andrews if they so wished so yes it’s a possibility.


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