Interview with Fitch: Institutional money in football may improve spending discipline – lucrative exits are the main driver, not dividend-paying clubs
Alamy | In July, 2020, US private investment firm RedBird Capital Partners announced it had acquired 85 per cent of French club Toulouse. That type of ownership is one of the examples that Fitch Ratings believes would drive financial improvements in European football.
Global credit-rating firm Fitch Ratings is encouraged by the new type of professional owners entering European football. However, owners can’t do it alone - leagues and UEFA need to tighten things up too.
The Premier League is not part of this outlook from Fitch Ratings, since the Premier League is different from most other leagues in terms of ownership structures, while the takeover-prices are also significantly higher than in most other leagues.
Why it matters: Fitch, one of the leading rating companies globally, analyses sectors all over the world. From a credit perspective, the firm sees the high number of ownership changes as a potential game-changer in the industry.
The perspective: The football industry still stands apart as a business sector. Fitch doesn't expect clubs to be profitable in the medium-term, but the goal is that they should be able to be self-financing.
24 February 2023 - 2:00 PM
Fitch Ratings is encouraged by the massive number of ownership changes that have taken place in European football in the last couple of years, mainly because the firm now sees an environment where owners are more professional and focused on running sustainable clubs.
The global credit-rating company published an article a few weeks ago, in which it recognised the changing ownership landscape in football which – from a credit perspective – “…could improve financial performance i
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