Club gets boost for development of Racecourse Ground, but move comes months after it received £14m state aid
The Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have sold a stake in the company to the US private equity investors Apollo, less than three months after the football club was given £14m in state aid.
The Welsh club on Monday announced the investment by Apollo Sports Capital, part of the New York-listed investor. It did not reveal the size of the investment, but said Reynolds and McElhenney, who has changed his name to Rob Mac, would remain majority owners.
The investment will help to finance the development of Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground (Y Cae Ras in Welsh), the club said. Apollo is one of the world’s largest investors, with as much as $840bn (£630bn) in assets under management. It has previously loaned money to the Premier League club Nottingham Forest.
Wrexham have risen up the English Football League to the Championship thanks to the backing of Hollywood owners Reynolds, the producer and star of the Deadpool film franchise, and McElhenney, the creator of the comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. They have attracted big-name sponsors and multiplied the company’s valuation in part through a Disney TV documentary, Welcome to Wrexham, which has charted the team’s successive promotions.
