Sports News | Florida-based Businessman Completes Takeover of English Soccer Club West Brom

West Bromwich (England), Feb 29 (AP) West Bromwich Albion became the latest English soccer club to come under American ownership when a Florida-based businessman and his father completed their takeover on Wednesday.

Bilkul Football WBA, a company owned by Shilen Patel and father Kiran Patel, has acquired an 87.8% stake in West Brom worth a reported 60 million pounds ($76 million). It has bought the shareholding of Guochuan Lai, a Chinese businessman who has controlled the club since 2016.

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West Brom was most recently in the Premier League in 2021.

Shilen Patel, who has been named as chairman, was described by West Brom as a “serial investor with experience in technology, healthcare, sport, real estate, finance, food and beverage, and numerous other sectors across five continents.”

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He has been a minority shareholder of Italian club Bologna since 2014.

“Today marks the beginning of an exciting project for the club to regain its standing as a consistent Premier League presence," he said.

“Success does not occur overnight, but it is my ambition to build on the club's current and historical strengths and surround West Bromwich Albion with high quality stakeholders at home and globally.”

West Brom is in fifth place in the Championship. (AP) AM

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)