On August 11, the British media "Hull Daily Mail" broke the news that Dai Xiuli, one of the richest women in China and the owner of Renhe Group, is likely to take over the Premier League Hull City. The Hull City boss is in advanced talks with a consortium of capital from mainland China and Hong Kong. The two bosses of Renhe Group, Dai Xiuli and her brother Dai Yongge, are the leaders of this consortium.
Big Sports Business learned from exclusive channels that the capital composition of this acquisition is relatively complex, with multiple capitals from mainland China and Hong Kong participating. The acquisition has not yet been completed, so it is still unclear which company will take the lead.
However, the desire of Chinese capital for the Premier League is self-evident. On August 5, Premier League West Brom officially announced that West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace agreed to sell 88% of the club's shares to a Chinese consortium headed by Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Co., Ltd. West Brom became the first Premier League team in the history of the Premier League controlled by mainland Chinese capital.
If the Chinese-funded acquisition of Hull City is ultimately successful, there will be a derby involving Chinese owners in the Premier League for the first time in the new season.
Premier League newly promoted Hull City are in chaos and eager to take action
According to the Hull Daily Mail, the Chinese consortium has made a formal offer to Hull City since last weekend and is currently negotiating with the Alam family, the owner of Hull City. Some representatives of the consortium visited the club's Cottingham training base on Tuesday.
The British "Guardian" reported that Hull City's vice-chairman Ihab Alam is in discussions with the Chinese consortium. Ihab Alam is currently in charge of managing the club's affairs in place of his seriously ill father Asim Alam. In fact, the old Alam has long wanted to sell the club. He had put the club up for sale in 2014, but the buyer's wish to change the club's name was rejected by the Football Association.
Hull City boss Asim Alam (left) and son Ihab Alam
In fact, Hull City was just successfully promoted in May this year, but it has been very difficult in this turbulent summer. The head coach Steve Bruce resigned due to lack of transfer financial support, and the team has not been able to sign a player so far. New manager Mike Phelan now has just 13 fit first-team players ahead of Saturday's opener against Leicester City, with Hull City fans already protesting against their boss.
At present, there are two main reasons why the transaction has not been completed. The first is that the merger and acquisition due diligence (Note: In order to ensure the success of a merger and acquisition, the merging company must conduct a detailed investigation of the merged company in order to formulate a suitable merger and acquisition and post-merger integration strategy. The merger and acquisition investigation should include the background and history of the company, the industry, the company's marketing methods, manufacturing methods, financial information, research and development plans and other related issues.) is ongoing, and the other point is that the exact price of the transaction has not yet been finalized.
The Alam family has no interest in running the club and only wants to take action as soon as possible. Fans are angry because of this
Americans had previously been interested in Hull City, and it was rumored that another Chinese consortium was considering an acquisition, but in the end nothing came of it. This time, the Chinese consortium led by Dai Xiuli seems to be eager to win Hull City, a Premier League club. In their view, Premier League clubs are high-quality assets.
British media details the family history of Renhe and boss Dai Xiuli
The "Hull Daily Mail" report conducted an in-depth report on the leaders of the Chinese consortium. The report stated that Dai Xiuli was born in Harbin in 1964. She graduated from Heilongjiang University in Chinese literature in 1986. After graduation, she worked as a reporter for the "Harbin Daily" and "Zhuhai Special Zone News" for five years, mainly covering community news. In 1991, he went to London to study English.
In the UK, Dai Xiuli met local teacher Tony Hawken through a blind date, and they soon got married and had a son. At the beginning of 1992, the state gradually relaxed restrictions on private capital entering the underground civil air defense field, and began to repurpose some underground air raid shelters for other purposes. Together with her brother Dai Yongge, Dai Xiuli founded Renhe Commercial Holdings, an investment company that began converting former military bunkers into shopping malls.
Dai Xiuli’s ex-husband, British teacher Hawken
Renhe adopts an "underground shopping mall" business model. The so-called "underground shopping mall" refers to building civil air defense projects and using them as underground shopping malls in peacetime, and then obtaining returns by leasing shops or transferring shop operating rights. The shops in Renhe's hands are mainly used for the sales of mid- to low-end clothing malls. In this way, Renhe made a lot of profits and was listed in Hong Kong in 2008. Today, its large shopping malls have spread across more than 30 cities in China.
Although there are rumors that Dai Xiuli has a military background and can even obtain military-related air-raid shelter projects. There are also rumors that it has close ties with the government, but these have not been confirmed.
Dai Xiuli and Dai Yongge, siblings
According to statistics from the American business magazine Forbes, Dai Xiuli's net worth reached 700 million pounds (approximately 6.03 billion yuan) in 2014. Later that year, she gifted a 48% stake in Renhe to her brother Dai Yongge – worth an estimated £246m (£2.12bn) – while she herself remained a non-executive director of Renhe.
In 2014, 57-year-old Tony Hawken filed for divorce from Dai Xiuli and was content with receiving a breakup fee of 1 million pounds. During their marriage, the couple spent £1.5 million on a semi-detached house in South Norwood, Surrey.
Dai Xiuli is with Renren and soldiers
According to British media reports, it was while living in London that Dai Xiuli developed her love for football. In an interview with Chinese media in 2010, she said: "My son loves football, and we often take him to watch Premier League games. Although I am very busy and don't have much time to watch a lot of games, I still can't help but feel a deep appreciation for the brilliant football stadiums and the vitality of the sports business in the UK."
In fact, starting in 2007, siblings Dai Xiuli and Dai Yongge took over Shaanxi Chanba and started running a football club. In January 2012, the team moved to Guizhou and changed its name to Guizhou Renhe. At the end of 2015, after the team was relegated from the Chinese Super League, it moved to Beijing and changed its name to Beijing Renhe, with Fengtai Sports Center as its home court.
