Carson Yeung belittles talk of HK$248m takeover of Birmingham City FC
Charges of money laundering notwithstanding, businessman dismisses Italian millionaire's claim of buying his 'priceless' Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is "priceless", its boss Carson Yeung Ka-sing says in dismissing talk of an Italian millionaire's proposed acquisition bid, estimated at HK$248 million.
"Better ask him first if he has enough money," the 53-year-old businessman told the outside the District Court yesterday.
Yeung, 53, was fresh from his failed second attempt to have his trial thrown out - he faces five charges and is accused of laundering HK$721 million.
He brushed off claims that millionaire Gianni Paladini signed an agreement last month with the club's acting chairman to buy it, but that the deal had not yet been completed.
Accusing Paladini of "bluffing", Yeung said: "He'd better look at his own fund pool."
Earlier this month, Paladini, former chairman of Queen's Park Rangers, told English station Free Radio 80s that Peter Pannu, chief of the Blues' parent company Birmingham International, returned to Hong Kong from Birmingham to tell Yeung about the proposed takeover - believed to be worth £20 million. Paladini claimed that after weeks of waiting, the deal was still pending.
Yeung was relatively unknown on the English soccer scene before he bought 29.9 per cent of the issued capital of the Blues for HK$237 million in 2008.
