The Guardian reported:
The Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have sold a stake in the company to the US private equity investors Apollo, less than three months after the football club was given £14m in state aid.The Welsh club on Monday announced the investment by Apollo Sports Capital, part of the New York-listed investor. It did not reveal the size of the investment, but said Reynolds and McElhenney, who has changed his name to Rob Mac, would remain majority owners.
Apollo’s investment is likely to have been made more attractive by the prospect of significant government support. Wrexham AFC was awarded £14m in non-repayable grants on 17 September, after receiving £3.8m last year.
Apollo, a monstrous private equity underwriter (PEU), started Apollo Sports Capital in September 2025.
Its Wrexham PEU investment enabled owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to garner a sizable return of capital. The pair purchased the club in 2021.
In just over a year, Wrexham AFC has been able to repay loans worth £15m to a company co-owned by McElhenny and Reynolds, according to its latest accounts.
It has also attracted tens of millions of pounds in investment from the wealthy New York-based Allyn family.
The Allyn investment in Red Dragon Ventures LLC came through their family office, 50 State LLC.
50 State LLC invested in SpaceX and OpenAI. Eric Allyn and his daughter Kaleen Allyn have substantial financial backgrounds.
Eric Allyn is also an LP Advisor to Armory Square Ventures, a tech oriented venture capital firm in upstate New York. A managing partner wrote about AI and its ability to empower secondary cities in the Northeast U.S.
Kaleen Allyn is a Director for Wrexham and formerly worked as an Alternative Investment Product Specialist for Rockefeller Capital Management.
She focuses on strategic investments across private equity, real estate, venture capital, and direct investments.Apollo Sports Capital weighed in on the Wrexham deal:
Lee Solomon, an Apollo partner, said: “Wrexham is on an incredible journey, and we are thrilled to be a part of it and to support the club, the Wrexham community and Rob and Ryan. This is a multifaceted investment where Apollo Sports Capital can provide long-term, patient capital to help Wrexham reach its goals and to contribute to the ongoing revitalisation of the facilities and local economy.”
With £18m in public subsidy to revitalize facilities Apollo, 50 State LLC and Wrexham Holdings can be very patient. As for revitalizing the local economy in this age of AI, that remains to be seen.
Two month old Apollo Sports Capital bought the third oldest football club in the world. Wrexham was established in 1864. Is Apollo Sports Capital old enough to order a beer in the stadium? Ah, hell, It's Wales. They don't care, at least not yet. The greed and leverage boys can be very annoying, maybe more like a two year old.
