(Bloomberg) — Hedge fund manager Tom Wagner is close to buying a stake in Birmingham City Football Club, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Wagner is a co-founder of Knighthead Capital Management, which oversees about $9 billion and focuses on event-driven investing and distressed credit. The New York-based firm declined to comment.
The deal includes the purchase of St. Andrew’s stadium, the people said.
Wagner would join other US buyers targeting the lower UK leagues, boosted by a strong dollar and Americans’ growing interest in British football. US-based investors have bet on teams including Ipswich Town, Lincoln City and Crawley Town.
This month, a Knighthead subsidiary set up Shelby Companies Limited, a business registered in Birmingham that has the same name as a fictional firm in crime drama Peaky Blinders. Last year, Wagner led a group including Tom Brady and former world No. 1 tennis player Kim Clijsters to buy a pickleball team.
Premier League
Founded in 1875, Birmingham City FC has struggled financially since being relegated from the Premier League in 2011. The team currently sits in 15th place in the second-tier Championship.
Chinese investor Paul Suen owns a majority stake of the club after a 2016 takeover. Last week, his company, Birmingham Sports Holdings, said in a filing that it entered into discussions with an unnamed buyer for the sale of a 24% stake.
Co-owners Oriental Rainbow Investments and Achiever Global Group also entered into a separate letter of intent with the purchaser to potentially sell an additional 21.64%.
A new owner may raise Birmingham City FC’s profile. In 2021, actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the fifth-tier Welsh team Wrexham AFC — which has since become the subject of a new Disney documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham.
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