Shilen Patel kicks off West Brom tenure with £5m debt repayment
New Albion owner Shilen Patel has cleared one of the club's significant debts in one of his first acts at the helm.
Patel's Bilkul Football group, who purchased Albion from Guochuan Lai at the beginning of this month, took on existing debts from the former Chinese owner, one of which was a figure of almost £5million paid to another of Lai's firms, Wisdom Smart Corporation Ltd.
The controversial loan was revealed in the club's accounts in the summer of 2022. In March 2021, in the aftermath of the pandemic, Lai lent £4,950,000 to another of his businesses, Hong Kong-based Wisdom Smart, to aid the firm.
Several repayment deadlines were missed as Albion continued to struggle financially without the aid of ownership investment and parachute payments.
In the club's latest set of accounts, released last year, the loan was impaired by auditors, suggesting it was not likely to be repaid.
In a move believed to be valued around £60m, Florida investor Patel purchased Albion and existing debts – £5m from Wisdom Smart and almost £30m owed to MSD Holdings. And on Friday it was confirmed the Tampa-based businessman had paid off the Wisdom Smart £5m, including interest, as he settles into life as Albion owner.
Patel has also confirmed he has taken on the existing MSD loan and repayment will be planned at a more suitable time, something the owner said made business sense.
A King's Council investigation into the historic loan taken by former owner Jeremy Peace in 2014 is ongoing and set to be concluded this year.
