Birmingham International to resume trading on Monday
Company previously chaired by jailed businessman Carson Yeung Ka-sing, has new financial backing from lead shareholder, and a new board of directors
Birmingham International, which owns Birmingham City Football Club, will resume trading on Monday after being suspended for almost two years.
The company on Monday will also be released from receivership after fulfilling all the conditions placed on it by the stock exchange, including receiving new shareholder funding and restructuring its board of directors, the company said in an exchange filing.
The company, whose former chairman Carson Yeung Ka-sing was jailed in 2014 for six years for laundering more than HK$700 million in Hong Kong, was suspended from trading on December 4, when its price was HK92 cents.
The resumption comes after the company received a substantial investment from a new investor, Trillion Trophy Asia, owned by Paul Suen Cho-hung, which now holds 60.78 per cent of its stock while Yeung’s share dropped to around 7 per cent, from the original 27.89 per cent.
The restructuring also involves a share placement with independent shareholders to increase the public float to 43 per cent of its total issued shares capital, up from about 3.39 per cent.
The public float will later be reduced to 26.87 per cent after further proposed restructuring and the conversion of some convertible notes.
This meets with the exchange’s minimum public float requirement of 25 per cent of the stock, a key condition of its resumption in trading.
All six of its previous directors and its company secretary have resigned, and eight new directors have been appointed.
Zhao Wenqing, 50, formerly the head of risk management and chief accountant at Shenzhen-listed Beijing Centergate Technologies, is the company’s new chairman and chief executive.
The company said in the statement that Hong Kong Police are still in the process of investigating at least HK$37.5 million in missing company funds, of which HK$35.25 million was suspected to be stolen by an unidentified former employee.