Ares takes 33% stake in Atlético Madrid

Majority shareholder Atlético Holdco (which owns a 65.98% stake), will exercise its pre-emptive subscription right and contribute around €120m to the club, according to a statement. The funding round will also incorporate funds managed by US-based Ares Management Corporation, which in turn will take a 33.96% stake in the capital of Atlético Holdco.

Mark Affolter, partner and co-head of US direct lending at Ares, will join Atlético Holdco's board of directors. Club CEO Miguel Ángel Gil will remain the majority shareholder in Atlético Holdco.

Ángel Gil welcomed the investment by Ares and noted that the capital increase will help mitigate the adverse economic effects caused by the pandemic on the club's income, as well as reduce the level of indebtedness derived from both the investment in a new stadium and the acquisition of players.

Professional football clubs have been a long-standing, if infrequent, target of PE and debt fund investment in Europe. Most recently, Oaktree Capital Management provided €275m in debt financing to Italian football club Internazionale Milano (Inter). Inter is majority-owned by Chinese retail giant Suning Holding Group, which controls a stake of 68.55%, while Hong Kong-based LionRock Capital owns 31.05%.

In May last year, US-based private equity firm Redbird Capital Partners acquired an 85% stake in France's Toulouse Football Club; club owner Olivier Sadran retained the remaining 15%. In 2019, Silver Lake invested $500m in City Football Group, which owns football clubs and related businesses including Manchester City FC, New York City FC, Melbourne City FC, Yokohama F Marinos in Japan, Club Atletico Torque in Uruguay, Girona FC in Spain and Sichuan Jiuniu FC in China.

Beyond individual clubs, Italian football league Serie A has also been linked to a PE play. CVC teamed up with Advent and FSI to invest in Serie A in a €1.7bn deal, which seemingly inched closer to the finish line in November last year. However, the consortium most recently put its bid on hold, Italian-language daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported in early March, following more delays after the November offer was blocked when seven of the 20 clubs making up Serie A voiced opposition to the deal.

Company
Founded in 1993, Atlético Madrid is a professional football club playing in the Spanish La Liga league. It is the current La Liga champion, having won the title on 11 occasions.

The club play its home games at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, which has a capacity of 68,456.

People
Ares Management – Mark Affolter (partner, co-head of US direct lending).

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