The shifting landscape of ownership at Bolton Wanderers has been confirmed by documents released by Companies House early this week.
On Monday afternoon it was announced that Sharon Brittan, Bolton’s chairman and figurehead of parent company, Football Ventures (Whites) Ltd, is no longer the person with “significant control” as of November 2022.
Her shareholding in Football Ventures is still the largest - but has fallen below 50 per cent as a result of investment over the last two years by BMLL Limited, a consortium which is now understood to own between 25 and 35 per cent of the club.
The group, who are comprised of around 25 families, many of whom are executives at one of the world's largest metal, mineral and energy companies, Trafigura, have steadily increased their stake-holding since November 2022.
One of the confirmed parties is Ben Luckock, Trafgura’s head of oil, and the brother of Nick Luckock, who has been one of the more visible Football Ventures board members since their takeover in 2019.
In an interview with Bloomberg last month, the BMLL consortium said they were happy to leave Brittan and Nick Luckock to guide club decisions.
“We’re willing to be very much in the background,” said Ben Luckock. “I’ve got a huge amount of trust in my brother and zero interest in delving into any control aspects.”
READ MORE: Identity of Bolton Wanderers' investors revealed
According to the most recent documents (November 22), Brittan owns around 44 per cent of the A class shares – i.e. those which carry voting rights – although that number may have been diluted again following more recent investments from BMLL.
At that point in time Michael James also owned 16 per cent, Nick Luckock (nine per cent) and Ian Riley (three per cent) were the other named ‘A’ shareholders in Football Ventures, with the UK Government also owning seven per cent, following the conversion of a £5million pandemic loan.
B class shares – i.e. ones which do not carry voting rights and do not guarantee a dividend – have also been issued to chief executive, Neil Hart, manager, Ian Evatt, and sports data firm Ludonautics Ltd, which is owned by former Liverpool FC director of research, Ian Graham.
More detail on the Football Ventures shareholding, and the most recent investments from BMLL, could emerge in the annual set of club accounts, which is usually filed by the end of March or start of April.
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