American billionaire Bill Foley’s investment in Hibernian Football Club has been ratified by shareholders at a well-attended agm at Easter Road.

Opposition was limited and futile in any case. The vote of majority shareholders Bydand, the holding company helmed by Ron Gordon until his death just over 12 months ago, was supplemented by the support of Leslie Robb, a former Baillie Gifford & Co partner who owns a 10 per cent stake.

Together they surpassed the 75 per cent threshold required to sanction the 25 per cent minority equity investment by the Black Knight Group, the Foley-fronted consortium that also owns Bournemouth, has a significant investment in French club Lorient and is behind the newly formed New Zealand A-Leagues side Auckland.

Bill Foley's Black Knight group are now on the Hibs board.

Late owner Gordon’s widow Kit hailed the deal and stressed her family remain firmly in control. “I think that’s why this deal is the right fit for us in so many ways,” she said. “We haven’t lost control, from the beginning. Shortly after Ron passed away people came knocking, and this was something that Ron would have gone after.

“So we follow his lead all along the way, even though he’s not here, we know what he believed in. We know what he wanted for Hibs and this is going to be a very strong and positive partnership. Control was always very important to Ron, we haven’t lost that. We still have control.”

She added that the Gordon family commitment has “no end”. She continued: “We’re here to stay. We are totally committed.”

Nevertheless, the agm was historic in the sense that it proved the final hurdle in a journey that means Hibs are the first club in Scottish football to officially become part of a collaborative group of football clubs across the globe.

Director Ian Gordon, Director of Football Brian McDermott , Manager Nick Montgomery and Chief Operating Officer Ben Kensell during the Hibs AGM.

Black Knight receive two seats on the Hibs board but no director will sit on the same board throughout the club network to comply with Article 13 of Scottish Football Association rules.

The governing body has previously observed stringent rules forbidding club shareholders to be involved in the management or administration of another football club.

After talks with Hibs the SFA consented to the Foley investment providing it did not equate to a level exceeding a 29.9 per cent stake. The £6 million investment sees Foley acquire a 25 per cent stake in the Easter Road club.

“I think it’s game changing for Hibs and groundbreaking for Scottish football,” said Hibs chief executive Ben Kensell. “It obviously gives us equity and cash to use. And I think it allows us to have a strategy that we believe can give us an edge in Scottish football. “Bill Foley has a multi-club network and we’re a small part of that. There are player network opportunities he sees great value in.

“The relationship we have specifically with Bournemouth, and the opportunity for the movement of players, allows him to get quite excited. We believe that gives us an edge. He believes that gives us an edge. But I make the point again that we’re not beholden to anything Black Knight want to do. It’s a partnership to make Hibs the best we can be.”

Hibernian Supporters Limited (HSL), the fans’ group set up to buy shares in the club, did not vote on resolution 4, which gave directors power to allot shares. The motion needed just 50 per cent backing. They voted against special resolutions 5 and 6, the first of which authorised directors to "disapply" pre-emption rights when issuing new shares and means HSL’s stake has been diluted further from the current figure of 15.4 per cent.

Bill Foley's Hibs investment confirmed after AGM as Kit Gordon says late husband would approve of deal