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FC Atletico Madrid pitch. Credit: Yuri Turkov, Shutterstock
American private equity firm Apollo Global Management is reportedly negotiating a multi-billion-euro investment in Atlético de Madrid, marking its most aggressive push yet into Spanish sport.
According to Expansión, Apollo is in talks to acquire a majority stake in Atlético Holdco – the company controlling 70.35 per cent of the club’s shares – in a deal valuing the team at €2.5 billion. The move would dilute the power of current stakeholders Miguel Ángel Gil Marín (50.82 per cent), Ares Management (33.96 per cent), and club president Enrique Cerezo (15.22 per cent).
Apollo’s Spanish presence is growing
Apollo made headlines this year in Spain by partnering with RedBird Capital (owners of AC Milan, Alpine F1 and AC Milan) to buy a portfolio tennis assets that included the Madrid Open and Miami Open. This deal is still in the pending stage.
This would be the first major stake that the fund holds in Spanish football. It has previously invested into Spanish companies, such as Primafrio or Tradeinn. It failed to purchase 10 per cent of Mexican Liga MX media rights for 50 years in a previous bid.
The investment would likely follow Apollo’s initial involvement in financing Atlético’s Ciudad del Deporte project. But with €785 billion in global assets under management, the firm appears keen to take a firmer grip on Spanish sport.
Could this be the beginning of a new era in LaLiga dominated by foreign teams?
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