May 7 – RedBird Capital Partners have invested in plagued Spanish club Malaga, building a football club portfolio alongside Fenway Sports Group (FSG).
RedBird’s football stable in Europe is growing with the US private equity firm, lead by founder Gerry Cardinale, acquiring a small stake of around 600 shares in Malaga, who play in the Spanish second tier. The equity firm might increase their stake in the future.
The group flirted for a long time with AS Roma before withdrawing from the race to takeover the Italian capital club and investing in Toulouse, becoming a majority stakeholder in the French second-tier club.
Last March, RedBird acquired an 11% stake in Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group in March. Cardinale invested £538 million in FSG and is keen on expanding his portfolio of clubs.
Malaga however are a club that have endured tempestuous times after Qatari sheikh Abdullah ben Nasser Al Thani bought the club, guided them to the Champions League before his heavy investment in the club began to decline. In 2018, the club were relegated from the Spanish top flight and burdened by a bad financial outlook.
Last year, Al Thani exited the club under a cloud after a Spanish court removed him as president for six months after charges were brought against him around alleged misappropriation of funds. Jose Maria Munoz, a judicial administrator of the club, leads operations at Malaga for now and the investment from RedBird provides a much-needed cash injection for the club.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1713619125labto1713619125ofdlr1713619125owedi1713619125sni@o1713619125fni1713619125