Liverpool and Chelsea both get green light from Argentina as major outlay on the cards
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Fenway Sports Group and Todd Boehly, owners of Chelsea and Liverpool respectively, have big plans in football and could have just been handed a boost to their investment ambitions from Argentina.
Boehly, who owns around 12 per cent of Chelsea but is currently attempting to buy out investment partner Behdad Eghbali, was the public face of the takeover two summers ago.
He personally owns stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Lakers as well as Chelsea and is one of the 500 richest people in the world.
Like Boehly, FSG also own stakes in a number of sports teams besides Liverpool. As well in interests in NASCAR and the PGA Tour, FSG own the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins.
Their portfolio makes them one of the most valuable sports empires around and one of only a handful of groups to own two teams in the top 50 most valuable franchises on the planet.
However, neither Boehly nor FSG are done investing in football and news from South America could potentially open the door for another acquisition in the sport.
Argentina could be next frontier in multi-club investment
Through holding company BlueCo, Chelsea already have something of a multi-club network via their investment in Ligue 1 outfit Strasbourg
Also targeting France, FSG withdrew from a bid to buy historic side Bordeaux over the summer in a deal that could have been worth £68m including debt and capital commitments.
Both investors have also been linked with acquisitions in South America.
FSG have reportedly looked at the possibility of buying a Brazilian club, with Cruzeiro, Internacional, Botafogo and Athletico Paranense all explored.
Boehly meanwhile has been linked with iconic Argentine side Boca Juniors.
At present, the 51-year-old would be unable to invest in the six-time Copa Libertadores champions because of Argentina’s rules on football clubs being run strictly as public, non-profit organisations.
But the country’s libertarian president Javier Milei wants to change that and, despite suffering a setback in the courts earlier this month, appears determined to get private investment into Argentine football.
Industry sources with links to private equity institutions watching developments in Argentina closely have told TBR Football that the court ruling is not a death knell for foreign investment in the Primera Division.
It is expected that Milei will doctor his proposal and attempt once again to get it past the courts.
Advocates for Milei’s position have pointed to what they perceive to be the success of clubs in Brazil, where private investment was first permitted two years ago.
They also suggest that the rewriting of the rulebook could lead to £2bn worth of investment in Primera Division clubs – and FSG and Boehly would likely be among the interested parties.
Many fan groups meanwhile oppose the plans on the basis that they threaten the community-centric ethos of the nation’s football clubs.
Liverpool and Chelsea’s multi-club ambitions
The multi-club approach is now the dominant model in football ownership.
The Red Bull network and Man City’s City Football Group are major success stories that have prompted American private equity companies to go to the multi-club well.
FSG and Boehly want clubs that can act either as sister clubs or subsidiaries to Liverpool and Chelsea, with all of the regulatory, sporting, and financial benefits that would bring.
Especially in the post-Brexit era, when clubs are facing recruitment issues relating to the UK’s points-based visa system, the multi-club model is proving very attractive.
The multi-club model also allows clubs to pool certain costs, which – especially in Chelsea’s case – could be useful in circumventing Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
