Sheffield Wednesday have announced a club takeover by the Thai Union Frozen Group. The South Yorkshire club confirmed the Thai company has bought 100% of the club’s shares from the previous owner Milan Mandaric’s company, UKFI Limited, for an as yet undisclosed sum, reported to be around £30m.
Manadaric had made no secret of his intention to sell the club to the right buyer after taking control at Hillsborough in December 2010. Mandaric rescued Wednesday from administration and contributed £7m towards wiping out club debts in excess of £20m.
Representatives of the Thai Union Frozen Group, which owns John West Foods and is the world’s largest producer of tuna, have been in talks with the club since the end of last year and attended last weekend’s goalless home draw against Birmingham. They have also met with the manager, Stuart Gray, to discuss their plans for the future, while the deal is subject to Football League approval.
The businessman Dejphon Chansiri, whose family controls the Thai Union Frozen Group, told the club’s official website: “I am very excited at the prospect of taking over control from Milan. I believe this club has huge potential and I can assure all our supporters that I will be working extremely hard to bring the success that I already sense from my short time in your city our supporters so desperately crave.
“My son Att, who was a mascot at the recent Blackpool game, is passionate about football and I know will be my inspiration in this project. I have made the same promise to him as I do our supporters. He will not let me forget this until we are back in the Premier League.
“Milan has been a wonderful owner of the club, taking over at a very difficult time and guiding it out of League One and handing it over with much still to play for this season in the Championship. I am pleased he has agreed to remain a supporter of the club. I am sure with his football knowledge and business expertise he will be of invaluable help to me.”
Chansiri confirmed his group had made funds available to help the club bring in the recent loan signings Lewis Baker and Will Keane from Chelsea and Manchester United respectively and hoped to add more players to the squad. He said: “We haven’t got long but we will all work very hard to strengthen the team for the second half of the season.”
Mandaric, who has previously owned Portsmouth and Leicester City, pulled out of a deal to sell the club to the Azerbaijani businessman Hafiz Mammadov in September.
“From the first time I met Dejphon I felt he was the right person for this fantastic club,” said Mandaric, who will assist Chansiri in an advisory role after stepping down as chairman.
“His business expertise and passion made him stand out from the other interested parties that I have spoken to since I announced that Mr Mammadov could no longer fulfil his obligation to purchase the club.”
Mandaric added: “In my four years in Sheffield, I have come to regard this city as my home, and desperately want to be a part of the journey we all started together when I arrived, which I am sure will ultimately see our club back in the Premier League very soon.”