{"id":4714,"date":"2022-01-04T12:04:41","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T17:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2022\/01\/04\/dragan-solak-completes-100-million-takeover-of-southampton\/"},"modified":"2022-01-04T12:04:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T17:04:41","slug":"dragan-solak-completes-100-million-takeover-of-southampton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2022\/01\/04\/dragan-solak-completes-100-million-takeover-of-southampton\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragan \u0160olak completes 100-million takeover of Southampton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h2>\u0160olak completes Southampton takeover<\/h2>\n<p>Southampton has new owners after a takeover of the south coast club was officially completed today.<\/p>\n<p>Serbian-born Dragan \u0160olak \u2013 Chairman of the Advisory Board of Netherlands-based alternative telecom provider United Group \u2013 has successfully led the \u00a3100million Saints takeover <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/news\/11700\/12509028\/southampton-takeover-club-confirm-serbian-born-businessman-dragan-solak-has-completed-100m-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">as reported by SkySports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Southampton have confirmed a Serbian-born cable television tycoon has completed a \u00a3100m takeover of the club.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SkySportsNews\/status\/1478394931261628422?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Investment firm Sport Republic will now take an 80% controlling stake in Southampton <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/lifestyle\/sports\/serbian-billionaire-backed-sport-republic-acquires-southampton-2022-01-04\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to Reuters<\/a>, while Katharina Liebherr will retain her existing 20% that she controlled after former owner Gao Jisheng wrapped his hands around the club back in 2017.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Total value of Southampton is \u00a3100m for 80% of the shares gives \u00a3125m for 100% of the shares plus taking on the debt of about \u00a380m to give total value of club at about \u00a3205m<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Price Of Football (@KieranMaguire) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KieranMaguire\/status\/1478394728819437568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/news\/antonio-conte-sets-tottenham-record-despite-southampton-stalemate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Southampton<\/a> CEO Martin Semmens released a statement regarding the ownership change while sounding positive about the new direction under \u0160olak\u2019s leadership;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>\u201cOver the last two years, together with the shareholders of our club, we have searched for the right partner to take the club forward. Today we have found the perfect solution for our club.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Sport Republic are experienced investors, but also experienced within the world of elite professional sports. That combination is very hard to find, and we are thrilled to have reached an agreement that secures our short and long-term future.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Foreign takeover trend in the Premier League<\/h2>\n<p>A quick survey of the Premier League shows that ownership at the top of the English football pyramid will soon be entirely foreign-based.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1576206\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1576206\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1576206\" src=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1235762729-1024x621.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"621\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1235762729-1024x621.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1235762729-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1235762729-768x466.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1235762729-1536x932.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1235762729-2048x1242.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1235762729-910x552.jpg 910w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1576206\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Newcastle United supporter holds a \u2018Sold\u2019 sign above the club\u2019s logo at St James\u2019 Park in Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England on October 7, 2021, after the sale of the football club to a Saudi-led consortium was confirmed. \u2013 A Saudi-led consortium completed its takeover of Premier League club Newcastle United on October 7 despite warnings from Amnesty International that the deal represented \u201csportswashing\u201d of the Gulf kingdom\u2019s human rights record. (Photo by \u2013 \/ AFP) (Photo by -\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Southampton is already the third club this season to be taken over by investment outside of English shores after both Newcastle United and West Ham United were subjects of their own takeovers through Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund, and Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.<\/p>\n<p>Officially, only Brentford, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Norwich City, Tottenham, and West Ham can boast domestic ownership. Many expect Kretinski to increase his ownership stake at the London Stadium, which would remove the Hammers from that list.<\/p>\n<p>But foreign ownership and investment is no bad thing at all, and truthfully, as more and more billionaires come from abroad to plant roots in clubs like Southampton, it is a testament to the financial powerhouse that is the Premier League as the nations top club competition continues to cement its place both at home and abroad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u0160olak completes Southampton takeover Southampton has new owners after a takeover of the south coast club was officially completed today. Serbian-born Dragan \u0160olak \u2013 Chairman of the Advisory Board of Netherlands-based alternative telecom provider United Group \u2013 has successfully led the \u00a3100million Saints takeover as reported by SkySports. Southampton have confirmed a Serbian-born cable television [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7],"tags":[13,14],"class_list":["post-4714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-sport","tag-football","tag-soccer","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}