Blackburn sale to Indian firm confirmed

The sale of English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers to Indian poultry firm Venky’s has been completed, the club announced in a statement on Friday.

The statement on Blackburn’s official website said the club’s holding company had sold its 99.9 percent shareholding in Rovers to Venky’s London Limited, a newly formed company owned by the Rao family of India.

“The board of Blackburn Rovers Football and Athletic plc today announces the sale by BRFC Investments Limited (a company indirectly wholly owned by the Jack Walker 1987 Settlement) of its 99.9 per cent shareholding in BRF&A to Venky?s London Limited,” the statement said.

Venky’s had completed the deal for 23 million pounds or 17.17 pence per share, the statement said.

“We are very pleased to be passing on the Rovers to the Rao family,” Paul Egerton-Vernon, chairman of the Jack Walker Settlement Trustees said.

“We have been impressed with their enthusiasm for the club, and their plans and ideas for future investment to develop it further as well as their wish and commitment to preserve the legacy of Jack Walker.

“We are particularly pleased that the club will continue in family ownership and that the existing management team at the Rovers led by John Williams will continue unchanged.”

Asia’s largest poultry group, Venky’s is part of the 290-million-dollar worth Venkateshwara Hatcheries (VH) group, which has diversified from poultry products to pet foods, nutrition for humans and healthcare products.

Headquartered in the western city of Pune, it produces chicken nuggets, chicken meatballs, kebabs and Vienna sausages.

Established in 1875, Blackburn were one of the founding members of the Football League.

They were also the last club from outside the established big four of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool to win the Premier League, lifting the title in 1995.