Starting in the summer of with the purchase of Manchester City, City Football Group CFG started a trend of global club acquisitions and expansion that has extended to this day.
While CFG have unique motivations with their ownership group based in the Middle East, investors have become more sophisticated in recent years when crafting multi-club ownership models and strategies. In part one of this series, I described the motivations of individuals, private equity and institutional investors who look towards European soccer for investment opportunities.
In part two , I discussed building the right investment thesis and thoroughly assessing the purchase of a European soccer club. In part three , I focused on the first 90 days after the closing of a club acquisition. This final instalment will outline the strategies and motivations behind multi-club investment portfolios.
When most people think of multi-club ownership, they envision massive multi-national corporations investing in clubs across the top five leagues in Europe.
However, several investment groups are taking a more strategic approach to the multi-club ownership model. The goal for these strategic investments has been to use my ownership to learn best practices for club operations both on and off the field. Many American ownership groups have previously invested in European soccer with an arrogance and lack of understanding of the keys to success. My goal as an investor has been to understand first hand how to avoid the mistakes that other groups have made.
