[baggiejohn]

There is nothing to suggest that Lai is running the club as a vanity project which is a good thing he isn't going to care whether this window is his first and want to make a splash. What will drive our activity is the need for reinforcements allied to the fact the transfer budget wasn't spent during the summer.

There is certainly upwards of £20m available a lot will depend on who is available in January and whether we restrict ourselves to the British market. Equally there are still a few players we could let go to further increase our budget. 

Personally I don't doubt that the club wants to be active but I doubt whether players of the right caliber will be available at almost any price. However one positive is that our current form has largely put any lingering fear of relegation to bed which will make the hierarchy more comfortable spending and targets more likely to sign.

I seem to remember a quote from Nick Hammond, where he said they would be focusing on players who had experience of playing in the PL for the January window.

[B_H_Baggie]

I seem to remember a quote from Nick Hammond, where he said they would be focusing on players who had experience of playing in the PL for the January window.

At least there are players available from overseas that do have prior experience in the Premier League so hopefully those comments aren't restricting us to those currently in England.

[Jimbo Baggy]

I have searched Google and still cant find much info on this company, there is a Wikipedia page for Gouchan Lai, still there not a load of information on him, ie his net wealth. Reason I'm posting this is, I wanted to know how many directors are involved in the group and if they have anything ant all to do with West Brom. We still don't know that much about them. For all we know a rich director could have funded a large deal of the purchase of the club. If anyone has any more information on the company please post ?

[TheBrom]

When we sign a few more players will you stop the conspiracy theories about the club's senior staff?

[Standaman]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/west-brom-guochuan-lai-worth-12502546

West Brom owner Guochuan Lai's enormous net wealth revealed
Lai remains a mysterious figure having said very little since investing in the Hawthorns club this summer – but his enormous spending power

BYGRAEME BROWN
05:00, 26 JAN 2017
SPORT

The eye-watering wealth of the new West Brom owner has been revealed, with Guochuan Lai worth a cool £2.8 billion.

Lai remains a mysterious figure having said very little since investing in the Hawthorns club this summer – but his enormous spending power has been unveiled in the Birmingham Post Rich List.

It is thought he parted with the best part of £200 million then he completed the takeover – earning former Baggies chairman Jeremy Peace a slot on the Rich List – and is presently the only Premier League club owner in the West Midlands.

However, he is not the richest, with Wolves owner Guo Guangchang, of Fosun International Group, boasting a net worth of £4.4 billion.

Lai runs Chinese investment company Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development and has a background of investing in giant eco-towns in the Fai East.

Rich List editor Ian Strachan admitted it can be difficult to assess the wealth of Chinese businessmen – and suggested he might actually be worth more.

He said: “He has a number of growing private investments in technology, virtual reality, tourism and sport. It is difficult to be precise about the net worth of individuals in China, but our estimate of £2.8 billion may be conservative.

“While he remains in China to manage his many business interests, he has pledged to visit The Hawthorns as often as possible and to fully support the chairman and executive team.”

West Brom made their first significant investment of the Lai era in bringing in Hull City midfielder Jake Livermore for £10 million this month.

However, with Saido Berahino having left for more than £12 million, the books continue to be balanced, unlike the more free-spending Guangchang and Tony Xia at Aston Villa, who also makes it onto the Rich List with a £990 million fortune.

The Rich List ranks the 50 wealthiest people in the region, including those who live elsewhere but are major investors.

Paul Suen Cho Hung, the new top man at Birmingham City, also makes the list with a net worth of £440 million.

Our new owner is wealthy who would have guessed that? All well and good but there is no evidence to suggest that he is going to subsidise the club in the transfer market nor should he in my view. However for those that harbour such fantasies it must give them a warm glow of expectation and look there is another Chinese businessman spending lots of money up the road in Witton.

[WBAinDEVON]

At least we are richer than the seals

[barnestormer]

At least we are richer than the seals

Yep difference is Dr evil doesn't hesitate to get his wallet out but early days yet for our owner we need a top up not major surgery

[B_H_Baggie]

Yep difference is Dr evil doesn't hesitate to get his wallet out but early days yet for our owner we need a top up not major surgery

I'm assuming FFP will be catching up with them in the not too distant future.

[barnestormer]

I'm assuming FFP will be catching up with them in the not too distant future.

Yep you would have thought so but its been flounced that many times by different clubs,its becoming a bit of a joke

[Jimbo Baggy]

Birmingham Mail reporting Gouchan Lai's net wealth to be £2.8 Billion.

[Jimbo Baggy]

Well finding out today via Birmingham Mail his net wealth is £2.8 billion certainly helps.

[tommcneill]

Birmingham Mail reporting Gouchan Lai's net wealth to be £2.8 Billion.

Its a conservative estimate

Could be worth more 

[iwastherein68]

Crikey! we should have had a crate of beer each, at least.

[HampshireBaggie]

I hope John Williams has been advised to spend what he likes within FFP.

[WBAinDEVON]

imagine if the wolves come up, their potential 4 billion fosun

[WBAinDEVON]

Well finding out today via Birmingham Mail his net wealth is £2.8 billion certainly helps.

were you expecting these findings hence your thread

[baggiejohn]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/west-brom-guochuan-lai-worth-12502546

West Brom owner Guochuan Lai's enormous net wealth revealed
Lai remains a mysterious figure having said very little since investing in the Hawthorns club this summer – but his enormous spending power

BYGRAEME BROWN
05:00, 26 JAN 2017
SPORT

The eye-watering wealth of the new West Brom owner has been revealed, with Guochuan Lai worth a cool £2.8 billion.

Lai remains a mysterious figure having said very little since investing in the Hawthorns club this summer – but his enormous spending power has been unveiled in the Birmingham Post Rich List.

It is thought he parted with the best part of £200 million then he completed the takeover – earning former Baggies chairman Jeremy Peace a slot on the Rich List – and is presently the only Premier League club owner in the West Midlands.

However, he is not the richest, with Wolves owner Guo Guangchang, of Fosun International Group, boasting a net worth of £4.4 billion.

Lai runs Chinese investment company Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development and has a background of investing in giant eco-towns in the Fai East.

Rich List editor Ian Strachan admitted it can be difficult to assess the wealth of Chinese businessmen – and suggested he might actually be worth more.

He said: “He has a number of growing private investments in technology, virtual reality, tourism and sport. It is difficult to be precise about the net worth of individuals in China, but our estimate of £2.8 billion may be conservative.

“While he remains in China to manage his many business interests, he has pledged to visit The Hawthorns as often as possible and to fully support the chairman and executive team.”

West Brom made their first significant investment of the Lai era in bringing in Hull City midfielder Jake Livermore for £10 million this month.

However, with Saido Berahino having left for more than £12 million, the books continue to be balanced, unlike the more free-spending Guangchang and Tony Xia at Aston Villa, who also makes it onto the Rich List with a £990 million fortune.

The Rich List ranks the 50 wealthiest people in the region, including those who live elsewhere but are major investors.

Paul Suen Cho Hung, the new top man at Birmingham City, also makes the list with a net worth of £440 million.

Our new owner is wealthy who would have guessed that? All well and good but there is no evidence to suggest that he is going to subsidise the club in the transfer market nor should he in my view. However for those that harbour such fantasies it must give them a warm glow of expectation and look there is another Chinese businessman spending lots of money up the road in Witton.

I'm sure the financial specialists on here will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Birmingham Mail article is strictly correct.

As far as I am aware, Palm, the business Mr Lai bankrolled to fund the purchase of WBA, has a turnover of around £500 million per year. It's anticipated that Palm will be a major player in the development of eco cities in China & as a consequence Palm is backed, in investments, to the tune of around £2.8 billion.
In effect, as others have said, the more successful Mr Lai is, the more he will be able to invest in WBA.

I think I might have mentioned before to twitter users, @Prof_Chadwick is well worth a follow to get an understanding of Chinese involvement in football & sport in general.

[SmethDan]

I think I might have mentioned before to twitter users, @Prof_Chadwick is well worth a follow to get an understanding of Chinese involvement in football & sport in general.

Yes, I believe you've mentioned it several times.

Prof' Chadwick is obsessed with the Chinese and their influence on the game.

Amazed that he ever gets any 'professoring' done.

He's always on fkn twitter  .

[baggiejohn]

Yes, I believe you've mentioned it several times.

Prof' Chadwick is obsessed with the Chinese and their influence on the game.

Amazed that he ever gets any 'professoring' done.

He's always on fkn twitter  .

I would use the word focused rather than obsessed, & quite rightly, the Chinese are set to be very influential in the way the world pans out over the next few decades.

[divinewind]

It doesn't matter how much any of them are worth, what matters is how much they will invest.
At the moment Lai is playing a wait and see game, we are doing ok. Too many changes too quickly can be a recipe for disaster.
Only time will tell who has secured the best owner/investor.

[SmethDan]

I would use the word focused rather than obsessed, & quite rightly, the Chinese are set to be very influential in the way the world pans out over the next few decades.

My description of him as obsessed was tongue in cheek.
However, I stand by my comment that he doesn't appear to spend much time 'professoring'.

As for the influence of the Chinese on the world and footballing stage, well yes chap, I'd worked that out for myself. Sorry, but a professor hedging his bets on any number of potential outcomes, postulating over what may or may not unfold in the manner he is actually comes across as pretty boring fare to me.

Sophisticated click bait material designed to raise his own profile and increase his 'standing' as an 'expert'. He has shown no greater genuine insight regarding the Chinese in football and the world stage than many on this forum.

Please excuse me for not being overly impressed.

[darby009]

another point on this which has been pointed out many times is that Lai is the front man but not the only investor in WBA.  we are led to believe that there are others in the background who are wealthier than Lai...

[Standaman]

another point on this which has been pointed out many times is that Lai is the front man but not the only investor in WBA.  we are led to believe that there are others in the background who are wealthier than Lai...

This is not so Lai directly owns 59% Yuni Investment (which is the Club's parent company) a further 18% is owned by Palm and the balance (23%) by various shareholders in an investment trust (Yunjin). The Premier League and  FCA regulations require the full disclosure of beneficial ownership. There is no even richer party sitting behind Lai, there may be very wealthy investors in the 23% minority stake but equally there may not.

Lai is an investor not a benefactor and should be viewed as such. His net worth is not a pool of wealth which is going to spent in an ever grander game of fantasy football. However until we have a few years under our belts we won't know where his ownership is heading. 

[BB74]

His personal wealth is irrelevant to me. As said above, he's an investor and one of his first thoughts will have been on how to recoup his initial outlay. 

investor

a person or organization that puts money into financial schemes, property, etc. with the expectation of achieving a profit.
"foreign investors in the British commercial property sector"

[paulosull]

Tell me if I'm wrong but was the investment in Albion only the start of a program to develop the area? I say this because his main business is as s developer