[baggiejohn]

At last, a vision and some direction. Something we haven't had since Ashworth.

We've always had vision & direction. The vision & direction has got us to where we are now. The problem was the tank had run out of petrol. We've now got the same vision & direction but with a full tank. Unless there's a catastrophic global crisis, this is only going one way & that's onward & upward.

[Dexy]

Certainly saying the right things, hope he backs them up .
I for one would have hated to see the youth system shunted to one side after years of hard work just to sign big money names.
Hopefully good times ahead.

[Standaman]

You seem to know your stuff, what does it mean when he says the parent company has funded it through equity?

The Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited owns the club. It is in turn owned by

Yunyiye - 59% Owned by Guochuan Lai who provided the underlying equity to Yunyiye through a trust.
Yunjin - 23% - An investment fund which has sold shares in Yunyi it is private equity vehicle which would offer shares to wealthy investors or other investment funds.
Yuntai - 18% -  Palm which was Guochuan Lai's company before he sold the bulk of his shareholding

The investors have bought shares and the funds (equity) has been used to purchase the club. Neither the club nor Yunyi Guokai have any debt and have not borrowed funds to complete the purchase. Some of the investors may have borrowed funds to buy their shares but critically the servicing of that debt is the investors responsibility not the company's nor critically the club's

The composition of the 23% is unknown, it could be one or two wealthy individuals, government backed investment funds or a myriad of smaller investors. Your guess is as good as mine.

In practical terms what does this mean for the club?

Firstly we are not paying interest just to fund the takeover which is a big plus when you consider the at the extreme Man United are paying £35m in interest a year largely for the privilege of having the Glazers as their owners.

Secondly there is still scope for the club to carry some debt for long term development projects e.g Stadium Redevelopment

It should be noted that the corporate structure does probably limits the ability for Lai to treat the club as a personal fiefdom there is a significant minority interest which will demand a say in how the club is run, it is not a question of the owner writing cheques. 

However this is a business and there will be a profit to be made. Whether that is directly through the club's activities future sale or a spin off urban development project or through the Chinese Government's willingness to subidise the development of football remains to be seen

[baggie96]

The Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited owns the club. It is in turn owned by

Yunyiye - 59% Owned by Guochuan Lai who provided the underlying equity to Yunyiye through a trust.
Yunjin - 23% - An investment fund which has sold shares in Yunyi it is private equity vehicle which would offer shares to wealthy investors or other investment funds.
Yuntai - 18% -  Palm which was Guochuan Lai's company before he sold the bulk of his shareholding

The investors have bought shares and the funds (equity) has been used to purchase the club. Neither the club nor Yunyi Guokai have any debt and have not borrowed funds to complete the purchase. Some of the investors may have borrowed funds to buy their shares but critically the servicing of that debt is the investors responsibility not the company's nor critically the club's

The composition of the 23% is unknown, it could be one or two wealthy individuals, government backed investment funds or a myriad of smaller investors. Your guess is as good as mine.

In practical terms what does this mean for the club?

Firstly we are not paying interest just to fund the takeover which is a big plus when you consider the at the extreme Man United are paying £35m in interest a year largely for the privilege of having the Glazers as their owners.

Secondly there is still scope for the club to carry some debt for long term development projects e.g Stadium Redevelopment

It should be noted that the corporate structure does probably limits the ability for Lai to treat the club as a personal fiefdom there is a significant minority interest which will demand a say in how the club is run, it is not a question of the owner writing cheques. 

However this is a business and there will be a profit to be made. Whether that is directly through the club's activities future sale or a spin off urban development project or through the Chinese Government's willingness to subidise the development of football remains to be seen

Brilliant mate, thank you!

[paulosull]

In the short term we need investment in first team so by the end of transfer window we will see if new owners have cold hard cash to back up their words

[baggie82]

I had a lengthy downbeat post yesterday lamenting the lack of new investment. To put it all in a fair context on the upside:

-John Williams seems sensible and experienced
-The new owners have not leveraged the club with any debt (like JP did)
-Hammond / Pulis remain in charge of the team and no real change with day-to-day affairs

But no sign any additiitional revenue to invest in the team or facilities so essentially more of the same with fresh faces. Essentially we remain a well run club just a shame the money men have not turned up.

[baggie96]

I had a lengthy downbeat post yesterday lamenting the lack of new investment. To put it all in a fair context on the upside:

-John Williams seems sensible and experienced
-The new owners have not leveraged the club with any debt (like JP did)
-Hammond / Pulis remain in charge of the team and no real change with day-to-day affairs

But no sign any additiitional revenue to invest in the team or facilities so essentially more of the same with fresh faces. Essentially we remain a well run club just a shame the money men have not turned up.

Palm are worth £1.8 billion, Lai is worth a bit more and there are very wealthy backers backing him up. There will be money to spend but it will probably be next summer as we can't just spend vast sums due to FFP. This summer I'd say there will be minimum £50 mill net spend

[buzzingbaggie]

Palm are worth £1.8 billion, Lai is worth a bit more and there are very wealthy backers backing him up. There will be money to spend but it will probably be next summer as we can't just spend vast sums due to FFP. This summer I'd say there will be minimum £50 mill net spend

How have you come to the conclusion Lai is worth more than £1.8 billion? Palm have a value of 1.8 billion but I would presume this is locked into assets so doesn't really give us an indication of cash which would be injected , the only figure we have is they return a profit of 7 million .

[BaggieBrainy]

How have you come to the conclusion Lai is worth more than £1.8 billion? Palm have a value of 1.8 billion but I would presume this is locked into assets so doesn't really give us an indication of cash which would be injected , the only figure we have is they return a profit of 7 million .

Firstly Palm isn't his only business venture.

Secondly yes Palm made £7m profit , you do realise this is after investors took a 'salary'

And thirdly Mr.Lei made an annual income of £138million last year ....

Stop guessing and let the man show us what he's here for, then we can make our opinions based off of that , but so far so good his answers on the Q&A were a fantastic start let's support our wonderful club on our journey to a new era

[baggiejohn]

The Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Limited owns the club. It is in turn owned by

Yunyiye - 59% Owned by Guochuan Lai who provided the underlying equity to Yunyiye through a trust.
Yunjin - 23% - An investment fund which has sold shares in Yunyi it is private equity vehicle which would offer shares to wealthy investors or other investment funds.
Yuntai - 18% -  Palm which was Guochuan Lai's company before he sold the bulk of his shareholding

The investors have bought shares and the funds (equity) has been used to purchase the club. Neither the club nor Yunyi Guokai have any debt and have not borrowed funds to complete the purchase. Some of the investors may have borrowed funds to buy their shares but critically the servicing of that debt is the investors responsibility not the company's nor critically the club's

The composition of the 23% is unknown, it could be one or two wealthy individuals, government backed investment funds or a myriad of smaller investors. Your guess is as good as mine.

In practical terms what does this mean for the club?

Firstly we are not paying interest just to fund the takeover which is a big plus when you consider the at the extreme Man United are paying £35m in interest a year largely for the privilege of having the Glazers as their owners.

Secondly there is still scope for the club to carry some debt for long term development projects e.g Stadium Redevelopment

It should be noted that the corporate structure does probably limits the ability for Lai to treat the club as a personal fiefdom there is a significant minority interest which will demand a say in how the club is run, it is not a question of the owner writing cheques. 

However this is a business and there will be a profit to be made. Whether that is directly through the club's activities future sale or a spin off urban development project or through the Chinese Government's willingness to subidise the development of football remains to be seen

That's where I see the oppportunities, but thanks for that Stan. Just as a matter of interest, I assume that the percentages above are percentages of JP's interest in WBA? If so, does yunyiye's 59% still give Guochuan Lai a controlling interest. (I'm not sure of JP's interest, but anything less than 84% wouldn't)

[overseas baggie]

That's where I see the oppportunities, but thanks for that Stan. Just as a matter of interest, I assume that the percentages above are percentages of JP's interest in WBA? If so, does yunyiye's 59% still give Guochuan Lai a controlling interest. (I'm not sure of JP's interest, but anything less than 84% wouldn't)

JP's underlying interest in the club was 88%.  59% of 88% is 51.92%, so yes, Lai has a controlling interest.

[buzzingbaggie]

Firstly Palm isn't his only business venture.

Secondly yes Palm made £7m profit , you do realise this is after investors took a 'salary'

And thirdly Mr.Lei made an annual income of £138million last year ....

Stop guessing and let the man show us what he's here for, then we can make our opinions based off of that , but so far so good his answers on the Q&A were a fantastic start let's support our wonderful club on our journey to a new era

 Simply sking where figures came from so I can form some educated opinions as to his/consortium wealth. Agree proof is in the pudding but curiosity is difficult to quell into our owners potential wealth.

[RogerBadoo]

Not sure the #7m profit is post investors dividend. It depends how the company is financed but it is a listed business so they would only be servicing debt; and I assume they'd normally wish to see solid free cashflow - the only real way to understand that is a review Palms balance sheet.

Interested where the annual income information came from?

Firstly Palm isn't his only business venture.

Secondly yes Palm made £7m profit , you do realise this is after investors took a 'salary'

And thirdly Mr.Lei made an annual income of £138million last year ....

Stop guessing and let the man show us what he's here for, then we can make our opinions based off of that , but so far so good his answers on the Q&A were a fantastic start let's support our wonderful club on our journey to a new era

[newbaggie]

If he needed any investors as did jp ,I would imagine he would be more likely to get them on board.Just a thought.

[smethwickw]

Having thought about things I feel very much like I did after the Brexit result. Delighted with the outcome and potential for things to get better but more likely very little change and just business as usual. I think we may have found the Chinese JP! 

[Standaman]

Just for the sake of clarity Yunyi Guokai will own 100% of WBA Holdings. Peace owns 88% so it is in effect his to sell but under takeover law the minority shareholders are entitled or more accurately obliged to sell their stake on the same terms. Once the deal goes through Peace will no longer be a shareholder.

[bry]

Having thought about things I feel very much like I did after the Brexit result. Delighted with the outcome and potential for things to get better but more likely very little change and just business as usual. I think we may have found the Chinese JP! 

Except we haven't got t our club back, probably even the opposite of the referendum. being ruled from afar!

[VANDERLEI]

Having thought about things I feel very much like I did after the Brexit result. Delighted with the outcome and potential for things to get better but more likely very little change and just business as usual. I think we may have found the Chinese JP! 

He's far richer and influential than Jeremy Peace. He has to be or Jeremy Peace wouldn't have sold to him. We categorically will now be able to compete with other clubs in the transfer market. That was the main pre-requisite for any sale. Peace is a massively cautious and calculated businessman. He always did things in the best interest of the club whether we agreed with all of his decisions or not, I certainly didn't on many occasion, but he always protected his and the clubs interests. This is a massive coup for us and I cannot wait to see what happens over the next couple of years. I can see that transfer record getting smashed a few times.

[buzzingbaggie]

Just for the sake of clarity Yunyi Guokai will own 100% of WBA Holdings. Peace owns 88% so it is in effect his to sell but under takeover law the minority shareholders are entitled or more accurately obliged to sell their stake on the same terms. Once the deal goes through Peace will no longer be a shareholder.

So there will be some very happy shareholders perhaps waiting for an offer?

[PsalmXXIII]

Who cares what he's worth - it's not a big swinging d*ck competition. He's hust spent hundreds of millions on buying us, he's rich enough. The longer we go without knowing Lai's worth the less we'll be taken for a ride by selling clubs. Quiet improvement is infinitely better than the Seals and Dingles forcing price tags up with unnecessary boasting.

[overseas baggie]

Who cares what he's worth - it's not a big swinging d*ck competition. He's hust spent hundreds of millions on buying us, he's rich enough. The longer we go without knowing Lai's worth the less we'll be taken for a ride by selling clubs. Quiet improvement is infinitely better than the Seals and Dingles forcing price tags up with unnecessary boasting.

Spot on.  Whether he's worth £1 billion, £5 billion or £10 billion is irrelevant.  He can't recklessly throw it at transfers and wages because the FFP restrictions are still there.  It simply allows us to compete better with our peer group without being left behind.

[halifax_baggie]

Spot on.  Whether he's worth £1 billion, £5 billion or £10 billion is irrelevant.  He can't recklessly throw it at transfers and wages because the FFP restrictions are still there.  It simply allows us to compete better with our peer group without being left behind.

and then it's up to being smart in out player recruitment search, team tactics, coaching and management

[Andio]

Well worth a read - more of the new owner's plans in this Club Q&A

http://www.wba.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/west-brom-albion-qa-guochuan-lai-premier-league-takeover-3227313.aspx

Saying all the right things indeed.

Welcome to the club!

[smosher34]

I just hope he can take the club forward and we don't  go same way as the blues . so before end of the month we shall see .

[Zebidee]

Can get around FFP though by renaming or paying fines