Image Credits: Imago Images
RedBird Capital Partners, one of the world’s leading private equity firms, is entrenched in the club’s ownership structure through their partnership with Liverpool’s parent company, Fenway Sports Group (FSG).
The New York=-based firm entered Anfield’s orbit in March 2021, when the US-based investment firm acquired an 11% stake in Fenway Sports Group for approximately £533 million ($750 million).
This was a transformative moment for FSG, providing much-needed capital following the financial toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, and helped the Boston-based group to gain the financial firepower to proceed with the Anfield Road Stand redevelopment.
And it now seems that the Redbird are looking to make some big moves in the planned NBA Europe league. The New York-based firm is positioning itself to acquire a franchise in the ambitious new continental basketball league.
Frank Dallares of City AM has reported that “RedBird is playing a prominent role in wooing potential investors and partners in the venture at an exclusive meeting in London today” and that Zlatan Ibrahimovic – who is an operating partner in the firm – has been involved in talks. The franchise opportunities are believed be worth between $500 million and $1 billion.
RedBird is said to be “very interested” in acquiring a franchise, with Milan emerging as the most logical destination given the firm’s existing ownership of Serie A giants AC Milan, which it purchased from Elliott Management for €1.2 billion in 2022.
Though RedBird maintains no board representation at Liverpool and has focused its operational expertise primarily on AC Milan, the firm’s growing influence across global sports raises intriguing questions about potential synergies between its football holdings and a future NBA Europe presence.
Milan would make geographic sense as RedBird’s basketball landing spot—the city is already penciled in as one of the 12 permanent host locations alongside London, Manchester, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens, Istanbul and Lyon.
For Liverpool supporters wondering whether RedBird’s European basketball ambitions could benefit Anfield, the answer is likely indirect at best. RedBird’s FSG investment gives it no formal role in Liverpool’s football operations, and any capital raised through NBA Europe would flow to RedBird’s balance sheet rather than FSG’s.
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