Wrexham AFC has a new minority shareholder in the form of the Allyn family after the club sold a minority share to the New York-based business family.
Co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the Allyn Family’s minority investment this week. The family is most known for its ownership of Welch Allyn, a medical device company that was valued at over $2bn after a successful sale to Hubble Telemedical in 2015.
The investment was made through Red Dragon Ventures LLC, a joint venture formed between the Allyn Family and co-owners McElhenney and Reynolds, which will help fuel the club’s continued growth through the English football league and the Wrexham community.
In a joint statement, 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.”
The first venture Red Dragon has embarked on is the acquisition of Wrexham Lager, a local brewer in the Welsh city.
The acquisition of Wrexham Lager will focus on expanding the product internationally, increasing its distribution and marketing with Reynolds and McElhenney leveraging their standing as high-profile celebrities to do so.
Fresh investment from the Allyn Family will help continue Wrexham’s trajectory up the English football pyramid after achieving two consecutive promotions seasons, with the club currently sitting third in League One.
Reynolds and McElhenney’s marketing and investment strategies have helped Wrexham also reach popularity outside of the UK, in particular through the FX docuseries ‘Welcome to Wrexham’.
Since their acquisition of Wrexham in 2021, Reynolds and McElhenney’s model has been adopted at other clubs. This has seen a flurry of US celebrities invest in lower league English football clubs, dubbed ‘the Wrexham effect’.
Now with new investment from the Allyn Family, the club will be hoping for further promotion success to a potential place in the Premier League in the not so 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.”
