Wrexham AFC

, the Welsh soccer club controlled by Hollywood stars

Ryan Reynolds

and Rob McElhenney and backed by

Apollo Global Management Inc.

, is likely to lose some of its money held at collapsed United Kingdom

currency brokerage

Argentex Group PLC.

The club had placed £4.6 million (US$6.2 million) with London-based Argentex, which collapsed into a

form of insolvency

in July as a result of soured

foreign-exchange trades

.

Administrators for Argentex now expect customers like Wrexham to receive only 60-80 per cent of their funds, according to company filings. That would suggest a loss of between roughly £900,000 and £1.8 million. The administrators don’t expect to make payments to customers until early 2027.

Wrexham made a loss of £2.7 million on revenues of £26.7 million, according to the latest set of accounts for the financial year to June 2024. The club is expected to have a far more lucrative season this year after playing in the Championship, English football’s second tier.

Wrexham AFC spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The involvement of the club adds to the far-reaching nature of Argentex’s collapse. The firm’s unravelling, caused by a portfolio of high-risk United States dollar trades imploding in April, tied up thousands of derivatives transactions and customer funds, alongside loans owed to a company owned by U.K. crypto investor and Reform U.K. donor Christopher Harborne.

Argentex collapsed in July, tying up its customers’ cash during a period when football clubs expect to generate funds from new sponsorship arrangements and sale of players. The £4.6 million Wrexham held with Argentex compared with £1.1 million of cash “at bank and in hand” that the club listed for the year through June 2024.

Reynolds and McElhenney bought Wrexham for about £2 million in 2021 when it was playing in the lower tiers of English football. The club’s profile has risen significantly since then, after a documentary chronicling the actors’ ownership and three consecutive league promotions. They announced a deal to sell a minority stake to New York-based Apollo in December, and are now challenging for promotion to the Premier League.

It could have been worse for Wrexham. Derivative counter parties to Argentex who had profitable trades are likely to receive only one-two per cent of their claims, Bloomberg reported previously.

—With assistance from Donal Griffin.

Bloomberg.com

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