Carson Yeung's Grandtop International Holdings confirm £81.5m takeover bid for Birmingham City
By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 9:09 AM on 21st August 2009
Grandtop International Holdings have confirmed they are to make an offer for Birmingham as Carson Yeung's proposed £81.5m takeover gathers pace.
The Premier League club revealed an agreement has been reached for the Hong Kong businessman's investment company to pay a £3m deposit as proof of his intent to buy the Blues.
On the brink: Carson Yeung is set to takeover at Birmingham
And a statement from Grandtop - which already holds a 29.9% stake - this morning revealed Yeung's offer has support from shareholders owning 79.91% of the company.
The statement said: 'The Grandtop Board is pleased to announce an all cash offer to be made by Grandtop to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Birmingham City, other than those shares already owned by Grandtop.
'The offer will be made on the basis of 100 pence for each Birmingham City Share to which the offer relates.
'The offer values the entire issued share capital of Birmingham City at approximately £81.51m.'
The statement added: 'At the date of this Announcement, Grandtop owns and has received irrevocable undertakings from certain Birmingham City Shareholders (all of which are existing Birmingham City Board members (or their associated entities)) to accept or procure the acceptance of the offer in respect of a total of 65,133,001 Birmingham City Shares, representing, in aggregate, approximately 79.91% of the existing issued share capital of Birmingham City.'
Yeung had looked set to bid for the club two years ago but an offer failed to materialise, prompting the current owners to challenge him to prove he had the financial muscle to make a firm approach.
Former Liverpool and Real Madrid star Steve McManaman is an executive director of the Hong Kong-based group and Yeung's takeover could usher his return to football.
Majority shareholders David Sullivan and David and Ralph Gold have always maintained they would not sell the club unless they were confident it was going into safe hands.
