Back in September the almost year-long search for investment into Liverpool came to a close.
A saga that had seen rumours of a Qatari buyout, a takeover by India’s richest man and an investment play by the former CEO of Microsoft ended with a rather more low-key agreement, with New York-based Dynasty Equity closing on an investment deal for a minority stake in the Reds, worth in the region of some £150m. Reds owners Fenway Sports Group have long operated on the basis of utilising trusted relationships and minimising risk, and in going in the direction of a deal with Dynasty they followed a similar path, with one of FSG’s partners, David Ginsberg, a former director of Liverpool, acting as a senior adviser to Dynasty, a firm founded only this year by US investment veterans Don Cornwell and Jonathan Nelson.
The deal provided FSG with the capital they sought to pay down the bank debt accrued for the infrastructure projects such as the Anfield Road End redevelopment, the AXA Training Centre at Kirkby and the repurchase of Melwood for the women’s team. In removing that debt the club improved its cash flow position and improved its balance sheet, with the improved cash flow theoretically able to be deployed into meeting financial obligations in other areas, such as transfers or wages.
The benefits for FSG have been outlined, and in a deal with Dynasty they gave away very little of the club but addressed a real need. But what is in it for Dynasty, and is making what on the face of it seems a small investment in comparison to the kind that had been mooted at points over the past year something that will yield strong results? The answer is almost certainly yes. US private equity sees sport as an asset class of its own now, and there is a prevalent view that European football is under monetised. A look across the European football landscape shows the presence of US investment firms such as Clearlake Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, Arctos Sports Partners, Ares Management, Silver Lake, MSP Sports Capital and 777 Partners all having either minority or majority positions in a range of clubs across multiple countries.
