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The list of candidates for a stake in German soccer’s future broadcast revenue could soon be narrowed to just one company after US financial investor Blackstone announced it was considering withdrawing from the bidding process. , which leaves CVC Capital Partners as the only candidate.
After Bloomberg first reported on Blackstone’s concerns, a source also told DW on Tuesday that the private equity firm had indeed been “in business for a very long time, and parameters have fluctuated over that time.” confirmed that it was considering withdrawing from the process.
Officials cited “structural and economic factors related to the transaction.” [which] That means it’s difficult to see how the setup could be made to work, and there have been calls from German fan groups and some club officials for a second vote on the issue. It has become “destabilizing” and has led to “too much uncertainty regarding transactions.”
Reuters also cited sources close to the club citing threats by some club officials to extend the process further as the reason for withdrawing their interest, with one source calling it “a chaotic situation.”german newspaper Die Zeit also confirmed the report.
Luxembourg-based CVC is the only remaining bidder after fellow private equity firms Advent and EQT were also removed from the process at the end of January.
CVC has already entered into similar investment deals with Spain’s La Liga and France’s Ligue 1, which is currently under investigation for corruption by the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, although they do not have strong teams such as Barcelona or Real Madrid. I’m here.
What exactly is the Bundesliga investment agreement?
The two private equity firms have agreed to acquire an 8% stake in the Bundesliga in exchange for an investment of approximately 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion) in the media rights subsidiary of the German Football League (DFL), which operates the Bundesliga. are fighting for. We anticipate broadcasting rights revenue for the next 20 years.
The DFL reached an agreement on December 11 with 24 of its 36 member clubs voting in favor, giving co-CEOs Mark Lenz and Steffen Merkel the necessary two-thirds majority. Negotiations were given the green light.
But since then, there has been intense backlash from German soccer fans. Not only are they fundamentally opposed to excessive external investment in football, but they also suspect that the minimum 24-vote standard can only be achieved by secret ballot. Martin Kind, chief executive of second division side Hannover 96, breached the so-called 50+1 rule by allowing the team to vote against clear instructions from their parent club.
The 50+1 rule is a DFL regulation that provides that the parent club, and by extension its members and fans, retain a majority of voting rights in the commercial company that generally oversees the club’s professional football operations.
Supporters argue that the 50+1 rule prevents majority takeovers of German clubs by external investors and helps maintain supporter ownership, while critics such as Hannover’s Kind newspaper argue that Bundesliga clubs They argue that this will hinder the level of investment needed to help the country meet its international challenges.
For the DFL leadership, trying to attract outside investment at league level rather than club level is one way to placate skeptical fans, but they are not convinced.
What do fans think?
In recent weeks, Bundesliga 1 and Bundesliga 2 matches have been stopped for up to 30 minutes as angry fans threw tennis balls, chocolate coins and other objects onto the pitch, and some fans in Hamburg Lock was pinned to the goal post. While authorities called in heavy equipment to break the lock, a banner on the stand cheekily read “The solution is 50+01,” which was apparently the code that would have opened the lock. .
A representative survey by FanQ, cited by Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine on Tuesday, found that 62.1% of German soccer fans were “strongly opposed” to the proposed investor agreement, a figure that It rose to 72% among attendees, but fell to 52% among stadium-goers. People who usually watch games on TV.
Some club officials, including third-place VfB Stuttgart’s president Klaus Vogt, are calling for a transparent re-vote. Eintracht Frankfurt board member Axel Hellmann and others said a second vote was legally impossible.
As former DFL interim co-CEO, Hellman led a previous attempt to gain negotiating power with private equity investors, which also failed in May 2023 following vocal fan outcry. .
This report used material from Reuters and SID.
Editor: Louis Olofs
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