Birmingham City: English Football League approves Shelby purchase of 45% stake

St Andrew's has been home to Birmingham City since 1906

The English Football League has approved the purchase of a 45% stake in Championship club Birmingham City by US-based Shelby Companies Limited.

The deal will see 24% of shares acquired from Blues' parent company Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited.

The remaining 21.64% will be transferred from Oriental Rainbow Investments and Achiever Global Group.

A club statement said they were now awaiting final clearance from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Shelby Companies are a subsidiary of his Knighthead Capital Management Group co-founded by financier Tom Wagner, who outlined his plans for the club in a letter to supporters last month.

They believe Birmingham's potential is "unlimited" and are ready to "commit the resources, in line with EFL guidelines, the skills and the determination needed to deliver transformational improvements for the good of the club and good of the city".

Investment in both the men's and women's teams has also been promised along with "high-performance facilities and culture needed for success".

Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited have been looking for investment in Blues for some time.

Last summer former Barcelona and AC Milan striker Maxi Lopez was part of a consortium, including Blues fan and local businessman Paul Richardson, that claimed to be close to buying a 21% stake.

That interest was ended in December, although subsequently Lopez, Richardson and Matthew Southall admitted breaching EFL rules over the owners and directors' test by taking control of the club without going through the proper sign-off procedure.

Birmingham finished the 2022-23 Championship campaign in 17th place.