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 growing Spanish presence
Apollo has already made headlines in Spain this year by teaming up with RedBird Capital, owners of AC Milan and Alpine F1, to purchase a portfolio of tennis assets including the Madrid Open and the Miami Open. That deal is still pending closure.
While the fund has previously invested in Spanish companies like Primafrio and Tradeinn, this would be its first major stake in Spanish football. It had earlier failed in a 2022 bid to buy 10 per cent of the Mexican Liga MX’s international media rights over 50 years.
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 mark a new era of foreign dominance in LaLiga?
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