Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Apollo is in talks with Atlético Madrid about taking a stake in Spain’s third-biggest football club in a move that would mark a rare foray into sport for the Wall Street investment giant.
The talks emerged out of Atlético’s hunt for investors to back an €800mn real estate project next to its stadium, according to one club official. The official said Apollo raised the alternative idea of taking a stake in Atlético Holdco, the company that controls the football club, during discussions over the real estate project.
Atlético Holdco’s biggest shareholder is its long-serving chief executive, Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, who owns 50.8 per cent. Enrique Cerezo, Atlético’s chair, owns a 15.2 per cent stake.
Gil Marín and Cerezo are not willing to sell any of their shares, but they would be open to issuing new equity to allow Apollo to acquire a stake, the official said.
The person added that Apollo had not made a firm offer, formal negotiations are not under way and there was no certainty an agreement would be reached. Apollo declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Atlético said “the club is proud to see the market’s response” to its real estate plans but declined to comment on the talks over the potential stake sale.
As US investors have piled into football in recent years Apollo has largely stayed on the sidelines. The alternative asset manager considered financing bidders for Manchester United and previously agreed a $1.25bn investment in the Mexican football league that later unravelled.
Apollo has been investing heavily in Europe, though, including the purchase of energy group OEG and lending £4.5bn to fund the UK’s Hinkley Point nuclear plant.
Atlético has qualified for the lucrative Champions League for 12 years running and reached the final of Europe’s premier club competition twice in that period. If Apollo were to take a minority stake it would be in keeping with a recent trend of football investors looking to gain exposure without control.
Figures from Uefa showed the number of takeovers in the sport halved last year, as downward pressure on media rights and regulatory uncertainty reduced the appetite for deals.
Atlético’s holding company already has US investors in the form of Ares Management, a private investment group that acquired a 34 per cent stake for €182mn in 2021. A recent report from consultancy Football Benchmark gave Atlético an estimated enterprise value of €1.9bn.
Atlético is seeking financing for a development project named Ciudad del Deporte, or Sports City, around its Estadio Metropolitano. The club plans to develop facilities for activities including golf, climbing and padel.
Atlético’s aim is to raise €555mn of the €800mn it needs for the project from private investors by offering them stakes in Parque Metropolitano, the company that will manage it.
The club plans to invest €125mn of its own funds and a further €120mn will come from an entity that controls the commercial income of Spain’s top-flight football clubs.
Apollo’s talks with Atlético were first reported by Spanish newspaper Expansión.
