The oldest club in Wales and the third-oldest professional association football team in the world, Wrexham AFC have announced the Allyn family as a minority stakeholder, following the club’s minority stake sale to the New York-based business family.
Co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney revealed the Allyn Family’s minority investment last week. The family is most known for owning Welch Allyn, a medical equipment firm valued at more than $2 billion following a successful sale to Hubble Telemedical in 2015.
The investment was made via Red Dragon Ventures LLC, a joint venture founded by the Allyn Family and co-owners McElhenney and Reynolds, and will aid the club’s continuing expansion in the English football league and the Wrexham region.
McElhenney and Reynolds commented, “Wrexham has earned the world’s attention and we are focused on bringing on board world-class partners to help with the next phase of our growth. We have been fortunate to get to know the Allyn family and we are blown away by their intelligence, kindness and commitment. They are exactly the type of partners we will need for this amazing endeavour.”
Red Dragon’s initial endeavour was the acquisition of Wrexham Lager, a small brewery in the Welsh city. The acquisition of Wrexham Lager will be concentrated on growing the product’s international distribution and marketing, with Reynolds and McElhenney using their celebrity status to do so.
The Allyn Family’s new investment will assist Wrexham continue its rise up the English football pyramid following two successive promotion seasons, with the team presently third in EFL League One.
Reynolds and McElhenney’s marketing and investment efforts have helped Wrexham gain fame beyond the UK, particularly through the FX docuseries ‘Welcome to Wrexham’.
Since acquiring Wrexham in 2021, Reynolds and McElhenney’s strategy has been emulated by other teams. This has resulted in a frenzy of US celebrities investing in lower division English football clubs, known as ‘the Wrexham effect’.
With additional financing from the Allyn Family, the team hopes to achieve further promotion success and a spot in the Premier League (PL) in the not-too-distant future.
Eric Allyn, Manager and Chief Investment Officer of the Allyn’s Family Office, said, “For more than a century, our family has focused on building great companies, while also uplifting wonderful communities. Our decades-long efforts in the Syracuse region are similar to what Rob and Ryan have started in Wrexham. We view Red Dragon Ventures as a vehicle to invest in a world-class football club, and, importantly, in the welcoming community of Wrexham.”