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Saints takeover completed

Southampton have confirmed that Setbian-born cable television tycoon Dragan Solak and sports investment firm Sports Republic have completed a £100m takeover of the club for a 80 per cent majority stake (Katharina Liebherr retains the remaining 20 per cent): https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11700/12509028/southampton-takeover-club-confirm-serbian-born-businessman-dragan-solak-has-completed-100m-deal 

The transaction gives the club an enterprise value of £200-£250m including debt.  Southampton's pre-tax loss increased from £41m to almost £76m in the 2019/20 season.  Revenues fell from £144m to £126m with matches being called off because of the pandemic.   Southampton borrowed £78.8m from MSD Partners, a football lender linked to computing billionaire Michael Dell.

The 80 per cent stake has been acquired from Gao Lisheng, a Chinese real estate magnate who has controlled the club since 2017.   Gao's decision to offload his stake continues the trend of Chinese owners selling out of European clubs. It also shows how the pandemic has accelerated takeover activity in te Premier League.

"We will be an active and engaged owner, but we will not be starting any revolutions. We were attracted to Southampton because it is already a well-run club that follows a clearly defined strategy," said Sport Republic chairman Henrik Kraft, speaking for the first time as part of the club's new ownership model.

Kraft also said that 'Whilst Southapton is Sports Republic's first acquisition, we expect more investments to follow over the coming years.  Our ambition is to build a portfolio of high influence stakes in football clubs and other sporting assets across the world.'

Southampton are not expected to splash the cash in the January transfer window.

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