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Southampton Takeover


Super

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A Serbian-born cable television tycoon has become the latest entrant to the Premier League's eclectic roster of club-owners after striking a £100m deal to buy Southampton.

Sky News has learnt that Dragan Solak, founder of United Group, has invested a chunk of his fortune in a controlling stake in the Saints, who sit 14th in the table, ten points clear of the relegation zone.

Mr Solak is understood to be behind a new holding company which will examine offers for clubs in other international leagues, replicating a strategy employed by the owners of Manchester City.

 

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13 minutes ago, Super said:

A Serbian-born cable television tycoon has become the latest entrant to the Premier League's eclectic roster of club-owners after striking a £100m deal to buy Southampton.

Sky News has learnt that Dragan Solak, founder of United Group, has invested a chunk of his fortune in a controlling stake in the Saints, who sit 14th in the table, ten points clear of the relegation zone.

Mr Solak is understood to be behind a new holding company which will examine offers for clubs in other international leagues, replicating a strategy employed by the owners of Manchester City.

 

£100m seems pretty cheap. It's the price of a single world class striker. Wasn't Newcastle £450m recently? A 'controlling stake' is normally at least 50% plus one share, often 75% plus one to account for special resolutions. That would value the whole club at only £150 - 200m. Seems very low?

If true then £100m for a stable Premier League team really puts into perspective the £80 - 100m investors are being asked to stump up for Derby - a basket case Championship side destined for League 1. 

Edited by ExiledAjax
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8 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

£100m seems pretty cheap. It's the price of a single world class striker. Wasn't Newcastle £450m recently? A 'controlling stake' is normally at least 50% plus one share, often 75% plus one to account for special resolutions. That would value the whole club at only £150 - 200m. Seems very low?

If true then £100m for a stable Premier League team really puts into perspective the £80 - 100m investors are being asked to stump up for Derby - a basket case Championship side destined for League 1. 

Agree it seems weird…. Do they own the ground? Surely the land that sits on alone must be worth several tens of millions? 
how can the whole business be valued at less than one year’s tv revenue? If this is correct: https://www.statista.com/statistics/240912/broadcasting-payments-to-clubs-in-the-english-premier-league/

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21 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

£100m seems pretty cheap. It's the price of a single world class striker. Wasn't Newcastle £450m recently? A 'controlling stake' is normally at least 50% plus one share, often 75% plus one to account for special resolutions. That would value the whole club at only £150 - 200m. Seems very low?

If true then £100m for a stable Premier League team really puts into perspective the £80 - 100m investors are being asked to stump up for Derby - a basket case Championship side destined for League 1. 

According to the BBC it is an 80% stake currently held by a Chinese investor. The quoted value cannot be correct.

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9 minutes ago, Super said:

Are they in financial trouble? 100M does sound pretty cheap, They have made millions in transfers over the years as well.

There have been rumours that a number of Chinese owners are trying to get out of UK football due to a financial crash around a company called Evergrande over there, West Brom & Birmingham (the latter an absolute shit show) are two.

No idea if this is connected but Saints were Chinese owned.

 

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58 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

80% of a Premier League club for £100m? Either ludicrously undervalued or there's a big catch/extra cost  that's not being reported. 

I think the 80% refers to what the previous owner had.

Maybe the £100m is Mr. Solak's investment, and he's also backed by a number of other parties for the total deal.

Either way I doubt it's only £100m unless the club is in financial trouble or the previous owner just wants out at effectively any price.

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Financially the club is a mess.

The group headed by St Mary's Football Group Limited lost roughly £100 million across 2019 and 2020 seasons, lost more in 2021 (allegedly), and at 30 June 2020 had £100 million of player contracts to amortise over the next few years 

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1 hour ago, grifty said:

That's confusing. I just googled Dragan Solak and the first Wiki entry is about a Chess Grandmaster. I was wondering how you could make such money from chess!

 

It's all about how you manage your money.

He doesn’t accept crypto or bank transfer, he's all about the cheque's mate.

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His departure from Brentford was only announced less than a month ago... Almost like he was involved in these Southampton talks whilst still in Brentford's employment.

Couldn't imagine pulling those kind of tricks closer to home. 

https://www.brentfordfc.com/news/2021/december/rasmus-ankersen-to-leave-brentford-fc/

Edited by View from the Dolman
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10 hours ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

I smell something fishy already.

Unless he/they have purchased a huge debt, there is surely no way 80% of Southampton is only worth £100M.

 

8 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

Very odd. The Chinese paid £210m for Saints, but Katherine Liebherr retains ownership of St Mary's, through a holding company. 

 

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