League One club Wycombe Wanderers have been taken over by Kazakhstan billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze.
The club have been owned by American businessman Rob Couhig since 2020, but 90 per cent has now been sold to Lomtadze’s Blue Ocean Partners Ltd.
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Forbes lists his new worth at $5.7billion, making him the 532nd richest person in the world.
He is the CEO and founder of the Kazakh-based Kaspi.kz, the leading technology company in central Asia.
An article with PwC described Lomtadze as a ‘game changer’ and Wycombe fans will certainly hope he can bring that to the club.
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"Our goal is to achieve long-term success both on and off the pitch whilst building a financially sustainable club”, said Lomtadze.
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"The football world is evolving very fast and our priority will be to integrate data analytics and technology to elevate the club’s performance to new levels.
"I am also a strong believer in youth development and it will be fundamental to the club’s vision. We aim to re-open and build a leading high-performance academy which will become an essential part of our long-term strategy of developing a club that consistently performs at the top level."
Wycombe finished 10th in League One last season and face a tough task getting out of the division.
Lomtadze’s billions will come up against the riches of the likes Wrexham, backed by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and just promoted to League One, and newly-relegated Birmingham.
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Then you also have several former Premier League clubs, like Charlton, Reading and Wigan, who are all trying to escape the third tier.
Couhig said: “I am excited for the future of Wycombe Wanderers. Last year, I announced that I had begun looking at a possible succession plan for our ownership. Since then, I met with a significant number of well qualified people. Last fall, Mikheil and I met and decided to explore his potential role with the club. It was apparent from that first meeting that Mikheil and I shared similar values of speaking directly and honestly with each other.
"I came to understand that his goals for the Club were similar to mine. Important to me, although often separated by a 12 hour time difference, we became friends. The logical conclusion to those discussions was culminated today with the transfer of Feliciana EFL Limited to his company.
“The Board of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club will have three new directors, Mikheil, Eduard Vyshnyakov, and Daniel Rice. The Board has asked me to convey its and the Wanderers family’s appreciation for the great work that Missy Couhig and Pete Couhig have done for the Club and community since June 2019.
"As for me, Mikheil has asked and I have agreed to continue as Chairman during the transition of ownership. Please join me in welcoming Mikheil, Eduard and Dan to the club.”