New Wrexham investors break silence after Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney deal

The Allyn family, who this week acquired a minority stake in Wrexham, have spoken for the first time about their investment in the club owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney

The new investors of Wrexham AFC, owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, have revealed why they decided to buy into the club. The Allyn family from New York, who made their fortune in medical manufacturing, announced earlier this week that they had acquired a minority stake in the Red Dragons.

The family, who previously owned Welch Allyn Inc for over a century before selling it to Hill-Rom in 2015 for $2.05 billion in cash and stock, have now formed Red Dragon Ventures LLC with Reynolds and McElhenney. According to an article on the official Wrexham AFC website, this move will "help fuel the club's lofty ambitions, as well as those of the broader Wrexham community".

The first step of the new company was to purchase a majority stake in the city's Wrexham Lager brewery, with plans to export the beer to North America. Reynolds and McElhenney expressed their excitement about their investment in a YouTube video where they were "Literally speechless," communicating only through telegraph keys.

The mystery behind the Allyn family's intriguing involvement in Wrexham's fortunes has finally been unravelled, thanks to a revealing interview with Eric Allyn. Manager and chief investment officer of the Allyn Family Office, Eric spilled the beans to Syracuse.com - their hometown's news platform where the Allyns have garnered attention for generous community investments.

The connection between the former chairman of Welch Allyn and the celebrity duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney was brokered by an adviser at JP Morgan. The actors were on the hunt for backers, keen on driving growth in Wrexham at the time.

With a history of backing community ventures such as Syracuse's Salt City Market, the Allyns drew parallels between the two cities' industrial heritage and challenges. Eric Allyn shared his insight: "Wrexham was a mining town, a steel town, working-class oriented with lots of breweries.

"Then the steel and mining collapsed and the breweries collapsed, and the city really collapsed in on itself. We know we can't reproduce Welch Allyn, but at least we can have investments we can connect to. We love to invest in great companies."

Meanwhile, Allyn's daughter, Kaleen, who is head of private market investments for the family, said the money injected into Wrexham Lager will help the brewery to thrive and expand into the United States. "We really think it's important to invest for strong economic returns and to uplift communities," she said.

While the Allyn family are said to be enthusiastic about their new focus on Wrexham, they have also made clear that they will continue making philanthropic investments in Syracuse. "We believe in Syracuse," said Eric Allyn.