Wolverhampton Wanderers’ owners have been Fosun International since July 2016. Steve Morgan sold 100% of his shares in the club and their assets to the Chinese conglomerate company.
Fosun convinced Morgan to sell the Molineux outfit after offering commitments to invest in Wolves over the following two years. The takeover would then precede a promotion push in 2017/18 as the West Midlands natives secured the Championship title with 99 points and returned to the top-flight.
When did Fosun become Wolverhampton Wanderers’ owners?
Morgan agreed to sell Wolves to Fosun and end his tenure as the club’s owner in July 2016 for £45m. The Chinese conglomerate headquartered in Shanghai also guaranteed it would invest £20-30m over its first two years as the owners. Jez Moxey also stood down as Wolves’ chief executive after 16 years.
Fosun’s takeover ended Morgan’s 10-month search for a buyer having put Wolves up for sale back in September 2015. The Liverpool-born businessman had bought the Molineux outfit for a nominal £10 from Sir Jack Hayward in August 2007. He also invested £30m into the club as part of the takeover.
Morgan’s spell as Wolves’ owner had seen the club secure promotion into the Premier League as the 2008/09 Championship champions. But the Molineux natives later endured successive relegations in 2011/12 and 2012/13 to fall into League One. Yet Wolves won the third-tier title at their first chance.
But the Premier League beckoned once again with Fosun funding the charge as Wolves sealed moves for Ruben Neves, Helder Costa, Ivan Cavaleiro and Romain Saiss. They would help Wolves to the second-tier title with a 99-point haul.
What have Wolves won since Fosun became the club’s owners?
Fosun’s tenure as the owners at Molineux is yet to add a major title to Wolves’ trophy history. The West Midlands natives’ only success under the Chinese conglomerate so far remains their 2017/18 Championship title. But Nuno Espirito Santo also guided the club into Europe for the 2019/20 term.
Nuno steered the Wolves ship to successive seventh-place finishes in their first two seasons back as a Premier League club. While the 2019/20 campaign also saw them reach the Europa League quarter-finals. They bowed out to eventual champions Sevilla under now-Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui.
What other sports franchises does Fosun own?
Chinese investors first established Fosun in 1992 and it now operates in 16 countries. But it was not until the 2010s that the conglomerate became the powerhouse investing group it is today. It spent billions acquiring assets in the USA and Europe covering healthcare, tourism, fashion and banking.
Now, the conglomerate has stakes in the asset management, banking, entertainment, fashion, food and drink, industrial, insurance, investment, media, private healthcare, real estate, retail, technology and tourism industries. But Wolves remain the only sports franchise the Fosun group currently owns.
How much is Fosun worth?
According to Forbes, Fosun International had an asset value of $126.5bn (£101.5bn) in 2022. It listed the Chinese conglomerate as the 590th most valuable group in the world that year. While it boasted a revenue of $25bn (£20bn) and registered a profit margin of $1.6bn (£1.3bn) over the year of 2022.