Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac have sold a minority stake in the Welsh club to Apollo Sports Capital.

The U.S.-based sports investment firm follows the Allyn family in joining forces with the two actors, who bought Wrexham in February 2021.

This latest investment will help finance the redevelopment of the SToK Cae Ras, Wrexham’s home ground, including the new Kop stand that is due to open early in 2027.

Reynolds and Mac (formerly McElhenney) remain in control as the majority shareholders in Wrexham, who have won three consecutive promotions under the pair’s ownership and sit 12th in the Championship, three points adrift of the play-offs.

“From day one, we wanted to build a sustainable future for Wrexham Association Football Club,” reads a joint statement from the co-owners. “And to do it with a little heart and humour.

“The dream has always been to take this club to the Premier League while staying true to the town. Growth like that takes world-class partners who share our vision and ambition, and Apollo absolutely does.

“We have known Al Tylis, the CEO of Apollo Sports Capital, for many years and are thrilled to now have ASC join the Wrexham family as we take the next step forward together.”

Apollo’s investment follows a similar deal struck with the Allyn family in October 2024, that saw the former owners of medical device company Welch Allyn buy a minority stake in the club.

Kaleen Allyn sits on the football club board that also includes Reynolds, Mac, Humphrey Ker and Shaun Harvey.

This recent investment is timely with the ceremony for the new Kop, which forms part of the wider Wrexham Gateway Project aimed at regenerating the main entry point to the city, having taken place last week.

Wrexham intend to eventually refurbish and redevelop the entire stadium with a view to increasing capacity to around 28,000.

“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,” says Lee Solomon, Apollo partner and co-portfolio manager of ASC.

“This is a multi-faceted investment where Apollo Sports Capital can provide long-term, patient capital to help Wrexham reach its goals and to contribute to the ongoing revitalization of the facilities and local economy.”

What does this mean for Wrexham?

Analysis by Matt Slater

For Rob Mac, Ryan Reynolds, the Allyn family and Wrexham fans, this is wonderful news.

The press release is short on numbers but long on good vibes, which is very much on brand for Wrexham since their Hollywood makeover in 2020. That was when Mac and Reynolds took the loss-making, fifth-tier club off the hands of its supporters’ trust and agreed to invest £2million in the team.

Five years, four seasons of Welcome to Wrexham and three promotions later, that initial outlay might just be the best bet anyone put on a football team — and their own star quality — in British football history.

Last year, Mac and Reynolds sold two small stakes — about five per cent to American investors Sam Porter and Al Tylis, and 10 per cent to the Allyns, the billionaire founders of a medical device company — which already valued Wrexham at about 100 times what they paid in 2020. And now Tylis has come back for more, but this time as head of Apollo Global Management’s newly-created $5billion fund, Apollo Sports Capital.

The press release does not refer to any new shares — and there are no statements of new capital filed at Companies House — so we can assume Apollo has bought its shares from Mac and Reynolds. Again, the press release does not say how many shares or how much Apollo has paid for them, but it is believed Apollo’s stake is just under 10 per cent and it has bought in at an overall valuation of about £350million.

Nathan Broadhead became Wrexham’s record signing this summer (Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

The most common way to value clubs is to apply a multiple to their annual turnover, which would mean Wrexham are being priced at seven times their projected revenue for this season. In other words, little old Wrexham are now in the same bracket as Manchester United. That feels a little lumpy for a club that have never finished higher than 15th in the second tier and spent 15 years outside the English Football League (EFL) until the first of those three promotions in 2023.

Until recently I would have said £350million is an insane valuation for a Championship side, particularly one without parachute payments to pad their numbers, but Ipswich Town announced a similar investment from sophisticated American investors last week, so what do I know?

What I would suggest, though, is that Ipswich’s value does not rely on the continuing involvement of two very famous actors. It is hard to think of a sports team with higher “key person risk” than Wrexham.

But that is something for Tylis to worry about, not Mac, Reynolds, the Allyns or Wrexham’s fans. He clearly feels pretty positive about the commitment of his fellow shareholders, as he is also an investor with Mac and Reynolds — and a whole bunch of other showbiz and sports stars — in Mexican side Necaxa and Colombian team Le Equidad.

It should also be noted that Apollo has a 35-year track record of making successful bets on growing businesses. In the last month alone, it has bought a 55 per cent stake in Atletico Madrid and there are similarities between that deal and this one, as both Atletico and Wrexham are at the heart of large local redevelopment projects.

So, all in all, hats off to Rob and Ryan, and welcome aboard, Apollo. It has already been one hell of a ride and, with the team three points off the play-offs, it might only just be starting.