Birmingham have ended negotiations with Carson Yeung’s investment company, Grandtop International Holdings, regarding a possible takeover.
Yeung, whose company had bought a 29.9% stake in July, had been set a deadline of 21 December to complete a buy-out.
But Birmingham have notified the Stock Exchange that the takeover talks were over.
“The company announces that it has terminated discussions with Grandtop International Holdings as the directors are no longer confident that GIH will be able to make a general offer for the company,” said a Birmingham statement.
“The directors confirm that they are not in discussions with any other potential offerors for the company.”
Co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold are now set to continue running the club, with Gold playing down reported interest from Russian billionaire Vagit Alekperov.
“We have been making contingency plans that the takeover would fail for several weeks and myself and David Sullivan have been running the club on that basis,” said Gold.
“Of course, there was always the chance someone could walk into our offices on 21 December with the money to buy the club.
“But in reality we have been saying for some time that the deal was dead in the water to all intents and purposes.
“The silence has been deafening from Hong Kong. Our dealings with Carson Yeung have been very brief. The takeover became an irritation we wanted cleared up.
“I feel revitalised and rechallenged now,” he said. “The future strikes me as exciting for Birmingham. There is a new manager in place, a new era and I want to be part of it.”
