Wrexham AFC, the Welsh football club owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is considering selling a stake for a valuation of up to £350 million (€415 million), people familiar with the matter said.
The club is working with investment bank advisers to canvas demand from potential investors, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Reynolds and McElhenney bought Wrexham for about £2 million in 2021 when it was a non-league club. Since then, the club’s profile has been raised significantly thanks to a documentary chronicling the actors’ ownership.
A valuation of €415 million would amount to a jump of 17,500 per cent since the actors bought into the club.
Earlier this year, Wrexham’s valuation hit roughly £100 million after the Allyn family from New York acquired a near-15 per cent stake.
Internal talks are focused on how to raise capital to help Wrexham compete in the EFL Championship, the division to which it has just been promoted for the first time in more than 40 years.
A new valuation of around €415 million would easily make Wrexham the most expensive team in the Championship. Sheffield United FC, which just missed out on promotion to the Premier League, was recently bought by a US consortium at a valuation of roughly £111 million.
Wrexham’s promotion to the Championship has been a rare example of well-known US investors succeeding in turning around the fortunes of an British football club. Wrexham’s last reported accounts showed revenue of more than £26 million in League Two.
The team’s next results are expected to be £30 million to £40 million for its latest season in League One, one person said.
Wrexham expects sales of about £50 million in the Championship thanks to increased revenue from broadcasting, sponsorship and publicity tied to its star owners, the person said.
It’s unclear if Wrexham will be able to convince investors to buy in at such an increased valuation. Talks are at an early stage and no final decisions have been taken, the people said. A spokesman for Wrexham declined to comment.
Reynolds has had a number of business successes. In 2023, T-Mobile US bought Mint Mobile, the budget wireless provider part-owned by Reynolds, for as much as $1.35 billion. In 2018 he bought a stake in Aviation American Gin owner Davos Brands LLC. Two years later it sold itself to Diageo for $610 million.
Both Reynolds and McElhenney are part of an investor group that bought a 24 per cent equity stake in the Alpine F1 Team.
Wrexham not only needs capital to add new talent to compete in the Championship, often seen as one of the hardest leagues in which to achieve promotion, but also funds for a new, roughly 7,000-seater stand that will boost capacity at its stadium. – Bloomberg
