November 14 – Hertha Berlin investor Lars Windhorst has exercised his option to increase his stake in the Bundesliga club to 49.9%, spending another $109 million on top of the $138 million he spent in June to acquire 37.5%.
Windhorst’s investment is the biggest in the history of private investment in German clubs with the shares held by his company Tennor Holding. The transaction sees Tennor holds 49.9% of Hertha BSC Kommanditgeseellschaft auf Aktien (KGaA) that operates the membership club’s football operations.
Windhorst holds the maximum amount, under the German 50+1 rule, that a private investor can hold in a club. The rule operates across most of Germany’s leagues preventing, with some notable exceptions, club ownership to be held by one wealthy individual and instead keeping it, in principle, as a social entity rather than a corporate business.
The two previous biggest private investment deals in German club history took place in 2010 and 2011 when Audi bought shares worth €90 million in Bayern Munich, followed up in 2014 when German insurance company Allianz bought 8.33% of Bayern shares for €110 million.
Windhorst’s share acquisition coincides with the appointment of German playing and management legend Jurgen Klinsmann to the Hertha Berlin supervisory board.
It is Klinsmann’s first major role in football since he was fired from his management role with the US national men’s team.
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