Sale of Bath City FC to new owners completes – marking ambitious new era

The sale of Bath City Football Club to new owners has been completed today, alongside a multi-million-pound investment into the football club.

The Club’s new Executive Chair, Andrew Stalbow said;

This deal happened because of the incredible backing we’ve received from the fans, the shareholders, the Supporters Society, the Supporters Club and the board. We hugely appreciate you putting your faith in us. We will strive to be the custodians you believe we can be.

We thank the outgoing board and we want to give a special shout out to the club’s many volunteers who we are excited to work together with.

And an additional thank you to our investor group for their commitment. The partnership that we will build between the supporters, the city, the community in Twerton, the players, the coaching staff, the operating team and the investors will set us apart. This is a unique opportunity.

Our role is to unlock Bath City’s potential and transform the club. Our work starts today.

Outgoing Chair, David McDonagh who will also have a seat on the new Board as the representative of the Supporters Society commented;

Many people have worked diligently behind the scenes to make sure that this deal is the right one to take our club forward. We know how excited our supporters are and that they share our belief in Andrew and his team.

The sale follows a year-long process during which the club’s advisors Carteret introduced the Bath City Holding Company, the 50 strong investor group led by Stalbow, to the club. The investor group has raised a seed round of over £6m with the aim of supporting the men’s and women’s teams to climb the football pyramid, building Football League ready infrastructure and enhancing the club’s connections with the fans and the local community.

James Powell, CEO of Carteret said:

Andrew has assembled an exceptional group of investors around a very ambitious plan for the club. The scale of investment is remarkable at this level of English football, and we are delighted to have brought the parties together and helped complete a transaction which we believe can be transformational for Bath City.

The new Board and many investors will be at the Chippenham Town game on Saturday 12th September. Andrew and new board members Richard Rivlin, Abdallah Yafi and Ivan Hindshaw, along with Club Ambassador Curt Smith, will be at Charlie’s Bar from 12pm. They will buy a drink for all Bath City fans wearing the club’s colours, or sporting a Bath City tattoo, in Charlie’s bar between 12pm and 1pm ahead of the game, to personally thank the fans for their support. Please note, this is subject to capacity.

We want to thank our advisors on this transaction:

Bath City Football Club was advised by James Powell and Stephen Metcalfe at strategic advisory firm Carteret.

Bath City Football Club’s legal work was led by Robin Cumming at boutique sports law firm Onside Law.

The Bath City Holding Company’s UK legal work was led by James Taylor and Andrew Massey at international law firm Osborne Clarke.

The Bath City Holding Company’s US legal work was led by Donald Lee at Los Angeles based boutique corporate and transaction firm Prospera Law.