THE Kimura Group have been in talks to buy Southend United for most of the summer.

But how much do we actually know about them?

Kimura was founded in 2013 by former Westcliff High School pupil Kristofer Tremaine and is based in London, with offices and representation in 15 other countries around the world.

A quick look on their website shows Kimura’s principal focus is in providing liquidity and working capital to the global commodity markets through a series of private credit strategies, serving pools of capital from some of the world’s largest investors.

The online bio adds Kimura seeks to serve all market participants throughout the credit stack on a risk adjusted basis from: Fortune 500 MultiNationals to SME’s (small and medium-sized enterprises) operating in niche markets.

Kimura also claim to be the only dedicated global, commodity only, private credit asset manager in the world.

Kimura’s management team consists of Neil West as non-executive chairman, Alan Gordon as partner, Mike Fitzgerald as portfolio manager, Mark Wright as chief operating officer, Warren Kirrane as head of US, Simran Bedi as marketing director and Craig Manielle as head of structuring.

Ex Southend High School pupil Simon Jackson is chief financial officer and is the son in law of former Blues boss Peter Taylor.

Founder Tremaine is also on the board of Integral Sports Management.

They were co-founded by actor Ray Winstone and look after a number of sports stars including Great Wakering tennis ace Ryan Peniston and former Southend United midfielder Jack Payne.

Kimura Capital LLP offers investors access to one of the oldest and secure forms of traditional banking via a myriad of configurations to suit the specific investors.

Their annual report and financial statements for the year ending 28 February 2022 showed Kimura Capital made a profit of just over £2million.

The group had kept quiet concerning their pursuit of the club.

But they made their first public statement on Thursday.

A statement sent to the Echo said: "To clarify the current position of Kimura Group, we have reviewed all the available information, and the dialogue that we have had privately with Ron Martin and team, as well as what is now in the public domain.

"We still believe that this is a very attractive asset, and we would like to clarify that we are interested in joining with other interested parties if they deem it appropriate to move forward, but we do not believe that we are the right people to lead this at this time."