£100m deal exposes link between Liverpool, Man City and Sheikh Mansour amid 115 charges twist
09/12/2024 12:45 PM
With Man City’s 115 charges hearing set to begin next week, the Premier League is at a defining moment in its history. Liverpool will be forced to navigate the fallout which could reshape the league.
It has been widely reported today that the Premier League’s case against Man City will be heard on Monday, with the process expected to last several months.
City have been charged with failing to provide accurate financial information to the Premier League between 2009 and 2018, which they strongly deny.
They won the Premier League three times in that period, with Liverpool finishing as runners-up in one of those season, 2013-14.
Since the charges were announced in February last year, City have launched a counteroffensive in the form of a challenge to the Premier League’s associated party transaction (APT) rules.
APT rules dictate that commercial deals signed by Premier League clubs must be evaluated for fair market value, so as to prevent clubs from gaining a sporting advantage from artificially inflated partnerships.
Man City have cited Liverpool in the legal battle, saying that the fact that the APT rules are enforced by Nielsen is unfair as the global data gathering firm is partnered with Liverpool and other top flight clubs.
The status of that case is not publicly known, although it seems likely that City have suffered defeat in he legal proceedings.
And increasingly, factions are emerging within the Premier League when it comes to PSR (Profit and Sustainability Rules, previously known as financial fair play or FFP).
Man City, Chelsea and Newcastle United have often voted together against loosening spending rules, while Liverpool, Man United, Arsenal and Tottenham are often in favour of tighter restrictions.
It may surprise some supporters therefore to learn of an indirect ownership link between Liverpool’s Fenway Sports Group and Man City’s Abu Dhabi United Group.
FSG investors’ connection to Sheikh Mansour
FSG own one of the world’s most valuable sports empires, encompassing Liverpool as well as the Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Penguins and stakes in the PGA Tour and NASCAR on the other side of the Atlantic.
The biggest individual stakeholder of the Boston-based investment group is John Henry, who holds an approximately 40 per cent stake in the company.
However, there are many stakeholders, including private equity institutions such as RedBird Capital, who invested over £500m in FSG in 2021 in exchange for a reported 10 per cent equity stake.
Interestingly, in 2023, RedBird Capital partnered with International Media Investments to create RedBird IMI, a firm dedicated to the sports and media mergers and acquisitions market.
International Media Investments is funded by the United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi royal family member Sheikh Mansour, the ultimate owner of Man City.
Abu Dhabi and Sheik Mansour’s involvement in RedBird IMI is currently under the spotlight for its movements in the UK media landscape.
RedBird IMI took over the The Telegraph Media Group last November but are now looking to sell the organisation in the face of pressure from the UK government, as reported by The Guardian.
Indeed, they have recently completed the sale of Telegraph-owned title The Spectator for £100m to Sir Paul Marshall, who is also looking to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph.
Man City, Liverpool and football’s ownership paradox
It is not at all uncommon for financial institutions to invest in more than one club, or indeed to have commercial relationships with the owners of rival clubs.
Take FSG investors Arctos, for example. The US-headquartered sports investment firm owns stakes in Paris Saint-Germain and Atalanta.
RedBird Capital themselves also own AC Milan.
More than half the clubs in the Champions League draw are part of a multi-club network too.
Similarly, sovereign wealth funds and state-affiliated institutions from the Gulf have invested so heavily in football and sport more broadly that there are bound to be overlaps.
There are degrees of separation between RedBird and Liverpool, with no operational input from the New York company as far as TBR Football understands.
However, the link is emblematic of how small the world of football business is becoming.
This is one reason that Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire told TBR that the “horse has bolted” in terms of UEFA’s attempts to crack down on multi-club ownership.
Liverpool may soon have a loose connection with Newcastle United owners the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) too.
FSG own a stake in the PGA Tour and there are continuing talks to merge the golf series with rival organisation LIV Golf, owned by PIF.
