Birmingham FC owner agrees £6m loan
The parent company of Birmingham City Football Club has taken out a loan of more than £6m from its new deputy chairman.
According to a statement from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Birmingham International Holdings will borrow HK$80m from Yang Yue Zhou on a two-year basis.
The interest rate on the loan is 12 per cent, which manes that the company will have to pay back about £7.5m in 2013.
Yue Zhou was appointed as deputy chairman and executive director of Birmingham International Holdings earlier this week (30 August).
According to the statement to the stock exchange, the lender is Inkatha Group, which is wholly owned by Yue Zhou.
Birmingham International Holdings said the money would be used to repay debt and as working capital.
The company cannot currently raise capital from a share placing, as shares in the have been suspended as chairman Carson Yeung faces money laundering charges in Hong Kong.
The announcement regarding the loan comes just days after courts agreed to let Yeung travel back to the UK. His lawyer argued that he needed to meet the club's directors and shareholders in person back in Birmingham.
He has been granted permission to travel from 15 to 19 September, on the condition that his bail was doubled to about £625,000.
