Chinese owners of Wentworth Golf Club say members threaten UK’s investment reputation
Ni Songhua says they are ‘stuck in the past’ as they try to prevent the group from implementing an exclusive membership plan
The Chinese owners of one of Britain’s elite golf clubs have warned a campaign by members to block a membership shake-up will end in failure.
Ni Songhua, the UK head of Beijing-based Reignwood Investments which owns the Wentworth Club, also claimed hostile members were “stuck in the past” and damaging the UK’s reputation among international investors.
“The risk is their aggressive, completely unwarranted and baseless campaign sends the wrong message to other businesses from abroad about the climate for investment in the UK, and puts them off growing those business links with the country,” Ni warned.
The risk is their aggressive, completely unwarranted and baseless campaign sends the wrong message to other businesses from abroad about the climate for investment in the UK
Under plans announced by Reignwood last October, membership would be cut from 4,000 to the Chinese auspicious number of 888 invitation-only places.
Current members invited to remain would be a charged a £100,000 re-joining fee next year.
New members would have to pay £125,000 – an 800 per cent increase in the current joining fee of £15,000. The annual subscription would also double to £16,000.
Reignwood, owned by Chinese-Thai billionaire Dr Chanchai Ruayrungruang, said the membership restructuring would help pay for a multimillion pound upgrade and return Wentworth – the birthplace of the Ryder Cup – to its former glory, and complete “our vision of making it the world’s premier private golf and country club”, said Ni.
