Journalist John Percy has now revealed who the preferred bidder in the West Brom takeover saga is.
West Brom have been embroiled in a takeover saga for the best part of a year now.
But over the past month or so, talk of a takeover actually going through has really ramped up, and in the last 48 hours it’s taken a real positive turn.
First, The Athletic revealed that owner Guochuan Lai has three credible bids to choose from; one made up of a large party including names like Mohamed Elkashashy and Alex Hearn, another led by the Armenian entrepreneur Roman Gevorkyan, and the third led by the Patel family from America.
And Percy has since revealed that the latter is understood to be Lai’s preferred bidder.
John Percy says Shilen Patel is the preferred bidder
The Patel bid appears to be led by American businessman Shilen Patel, who Percy says is ‘understood to be the preferred bidder at this stage’.
Percy also adds that there’s no timescale on the potential West Brom takeover as things stand, but that the bid is making progress.
Patel has experience in software, real estate, and financial businesses, but no experience of working within the sports industry.
He also has ties to MSD Holdings who’ve been loaning West Brom money over the past few years; around £27milion, making them the club’s biggest creditor as things stand.
The Patel family is said to have a net worth of more than $400million, or around £313million.
Patel and West Brom facing race against the clock
Progress is obviously good. But takeovers of football clubs have so many facets and take so long to officially get over the line, and with finances extremely tight at the club, a takeover can’t some soon enough.
Patel and indeed Lai will be hoping that West Brom’s financial situation doesn’t worsen during this takeover process, but with multiple bidders in the running, there’s something of a safety net for the Baggies.
But having a preferred bidder represents a huge step forward in the process and Patel looks like a potentially exciting new owner.
Whilst he doesn’t have any prior experience in sports, he’s clearly a well-connected and successful businessman who can bring a huge amount of wealth to the club.
Carlos Corberan will no doubt have an eye on the takeover, but he’ll be more focused on matters on the pitch, with West Brom going up against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park this afternoon.