Hong Kong shares of Birmingham City holding firm suspended

Shares in Birmingham City's Hong Kong holding company were suspended Monday, leading to speculation the club will be sold, after its owner Carson Yeung was jailed for money laundering in March. "At the request of Birmingham International Holdings Limited, trading in its shares on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited has been halted," it said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The suspension was made "pending the release of an announcement relating to price sensitive inside information of the company", it said. Birmingham-based Daniel Ivery said on his "Often Partisan" blog: "The announcement... I presume foreshadows news of a preferred bidder being released today." Yeung was sentenced to six years at the end of a case that gripped the southern Chinese city and fans of the English football club with its tales of unexplained dealings and financial transactions involving local businessmen and an alleged triad member. Yeung -- who was charged in June 2011, two years after he bought the team -- has appealed against the conviction. He remains the largest shareholder of the club, according to the Hong Kong stock exchange website, despite resigning from all positions at its holding company before the trial verdict. Birmingham City -- which was relegated from the Premiership in 2011, three months after winning the League Cup -- has been in talks with potential bidders over the past few years. In October 2012, Birmingham Holdings said it was in talks with two potential buyers, a month after it rejected an offer from an unnamed party. Reports named the failed buyer as an Italian consortium led by Gianni Paladini, the former chairman of Premier League club Queens Park Rangers, which had offered £12 million ($19.2 million). Little known before his emergence in English football, Yeung took control of Birmingham in October 2009 in an £81 million ($130 million) takeover from David Sullivan and David Gold, now the co-owners of West Ham United.