Birmingham City stake blurred by fancy footwork
Who actually owns Birmingham Football Club?
That became a valid question after Carson Yeung Ka-sing, who bought the English Premier League club last month, pulled off a quick acquisition this weekend that would see his stake in the soccer club diluted to a minority holding.
Grandtop International Holdings said on Sunday it would pay 800 million yuan (HK$908.5 million) for Peace International Creation, an aviation media firm that installs electronic screens in Tianjin Airlines planes.
The deal was financed through three tranches of zero-interest convertible bonds to the two sellers, which, on conversion, could own up to 42 per cent of Grandtop. Yeung, who owns 15.2 per cent, would see his stake diluted to 9.2 per cent.
There is not much information on the owners of the mainland firm. The deal was consummated with a guarantee by Meng Fei, presumably a mainland businessman, through a British Virgin Island company about whom we found no information.
