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Chinese investors in the Bundesliga - coming soon?


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According to the latest report in Capital, a business magazine in Germany, Chinese conglomerate and investment company Fosun International Ltd is seriously considering stepping into the league. At the moment, it's said that they are or have been in talks with at least 6 clubs, namely Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund, Hertha BSC, VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV und Borussia Mönchengladbach - Gladbach and Wolfsburg are allegedly not interested, while the rest are open to a partnership of some sorts. 

Makes sense, as China is a huge market with a lot of potential, both for sponsoring and merchandise, and with a number of Bundesliga clubs going on China tour in summer as well as opening their offices and even football academies there, this might be a reality very soon. Could be one of the biggest nails into the 50+1 coffin as well, I suppose.

Full report in Capital: https://www.capital.de/dasmagazin/fussball-bundesliga-finanzinvestor-fosun-sondiert-einstieg-8654.html

Thoughts?

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Watzke has stated explicitly that there will never be an direct exchange of control for money as long as he's CEO, so there's no way we will be owned by an investor in way, shape or form you know it from other leagues; first and foremost the Premier League. However there's still the option to become a BVB sponsor like Evonik, Puma and Signal Iduna or "BVB ChampionPartner" like OPEL, Eurowings, Hankook, Huawei and many more. Since we are on the stock market nobody even needs our consent.

My guess is that they'd want to be on our trikot and replace Evonik once our contract runs out(2025) or replace Signal Iduna, who are still owning the rights to name our stadium until 2021. Either way the 50+1 rule would be respected.

Are there any notable examples of Fosun's former investments?

@Tanksie would love to have a Chinese investor. :4_joy:

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2 minutes ago, VanPanna said:

I think the way the Chinese operate, it will be totally against the German model and I cannot see it working in Germany. 

The article's title and the main premise behind this thread, implies the contrary. They are interested and HAVE to know how the Bundesliga works by now, so I guess they found an attractive option.

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3 minutes ago, True Bender said:

Watzke has stated explicitly that there will never be an direct exchange of control for money as long as he's CEO, so there's no way we will be owned by an investor in way, shape or form you know it from other leagues; first and foremost the Premier League. However there's still the option to become a BVB sponsor like Evonik, Puma and Signal Iduna or "BVB ChampionPartner" like OPEL, Eurowings, Hankook, Huawei and many more. Since we are on the stock market nobody even needs our consent.

My guess is that they'd want to be on our trikot and replace Evonik once our contract runs out(2025) or replace Signal Iduna, who are still owning the rights to name our stadium until 2021. Either way the 50+1 rule would be respected.

Are there any notable examples of Fosun's former investments?

@Tanksie would love to have a Chinese investor. :4_joy:

Wolverhampton Wanderers; I think they took over the club last year. Other than football, they have been on quite a rampage in Europe and other parts of the world lately; mostly banking and real estate sector, and it seems they are now after more, mostly related to "entertainment". I think they also own a part of Thomas Cook and Cirque du Soleil already.

 

And yes, the 50+1 rule is the main issue for the Chinese, it seems - they are definitely interested, but since they can only have the minority of shares with voting rights, they are considering other options. I'm pretty sure the majority of our clubs want to keep their identity, but I just wonder if all those potential millions could be too tempting... 

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2 minutes ago, Tanksie said:

Why do I want a Chinese investor?

Were you just trying to bait me into saying something racist, cos I will resist!!!

Shanghai Noodles Arena has a nice ring to it though! xD

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3 minutes ago, HoneyNUFC said:

Wolves have has 3 managers in the 8 months Fosun Group have been in charge.

Enjoy.

As things stand, it wouldn't be possible for them to gain control of any club due to legal restrictions, so that's not a likely scenario at the moment.

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36 minutes ago, True Bender said:

The article's title and the main premise behind this thread, implies the contrary. They are interested and HAVE to know how the Bundesliga works by now, so I guess they found an attractive option.

Didn't work in Holland when a Chinese owner bought ADO Den Haag,  who also have the same financial systems as the Bundesliga. 

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Just now, True Bender said:

"Didn't work" means the club didn't have any success on the pitch?

No, just how they do their business, I know there are huge more resources in the Bundesliga but operating a football club is just something they have never done abroad.

 

 https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/12/ado-den-haag-loses-stadium-sponsor-takes-chinese-owner-to-court/

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Chinese investors or not, do you think the 50+1 model has any future though? I personally see the end of it in the next 3-5 years, I just hope that there will still be some regulations and that most of the clubs will decide on keeping the control package to themselves instead of going full-crazy and selling out completely.

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Can´t see fall the 50+1 rule anytime soon for more than just one reason:

First of all the non-DFLclubs, who have a considerable influence at DFB through the regional federations would be against opening the German football clubs for investors more to prevent the already massive gulf between them and the rich BL and 2.Liga clubs to widen even more.

Second Ismaik acting like an absolutist monarch at 1860 München should prevent many club members of DFL clubs of voting for their own depriving in favor of an investor.

Last not least even the elite clubs would be against it for the selfish reason, that they´re not interested in breeding new rich rivals for themselves.

That´s only my opinion, though.

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17 hours ago, Rucksackfranzose said:

Can´t see fall the 50+1 rule anytime soon for more than just one reason:

First of all the non-DFLclubs, who have a considerable influence at DFB through the regional federations would be against opening the German football clubs for investors more to prevent the already massive gulf between them and the rich BL and 2.Liga clubs to widen even more.

Second Ismaik acting like an absolutist monarch at 1860 München should prevent many club members of DFL clubs of voting for their own depriving in favor of an investor.

Last not least even the elite clubs would be against it for the selfish reason, that they´re not interested in breeding new rich rivals for themselves.

That´s only my opinion, though.

All very good points! I never though of the "elite clubs" voting against it just to keep the opposition at bay, but it makes so much sense. In the same way, the likes of RB or Leverkusen might as well be interested to keep the rule since they already are above it anyway, I suppose. How much votes does it need to be removed, two thirds I think?

I was under the impression, though, that while most of the DFL clubs are more or less against the removal of the rule (well except Martin Kind, haha), they are convinced that it will not hold for much longer, one of the biggest reasons being the fact that it's allegedly against EU laws. The other reason why the rule might fall could be the rise of the clubs that circumvent the rule anyway; if more clubs like RB, Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg etc find their way into the 1. and 2. Bundesliga in the next couple of years, the others might feel that the only way to get rid of such an unfair advantage is just to lose the 50+1 rule all together. 

All just speculation, of course, I've got no idea of what happens next.

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On 22/03/2017 at 11:54 AM, HoneyNUFC said:

Wolves have had 3 managers in the 8 months Fosun Group have been in charge.

Enjoy.

It's been pretty underwhelming too. They bought in a lot of overseas talent this summer. Had some real gems in Helder Costa but they sacked the Manager early and classed the recruitment as a failure after a quarter of the season. They then put people from the previous regime back in to recruitment and they were linked with talent such as Jonathan Hugill.

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