Investing in European clubs on the rise

Europe's EUR 11.6 billion football industry has whet financial investors' appetite and is likely to increase this year as U.S. tycoons, hedge funds and other financial institutions try to profit from the game's rising TV and commercial income, according to Reuters.

Prospects include merger talks about English Premier League clubs Liverpool and Newcastle and a planned initial public offering for French Ligue 1 club, Olympique Lyon.

"There will be more foreign investment in football," said Patrick Lynch, a managing director at Morgan Stanley in London, who restructured the financial obligations of Germany's Borussia Dortmund last year.

In Britain, where as many as five clubs, including Chelsea and Manchester United, have already been taken over by financial investors, the English league has doubled its sales to EUR 2 billion in five years, according to data from the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.

"The clubs' finances will be further boosted when the Premiership's new TV deals start for 2007-08," said Paul Rawnsley, a director at the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

"This provides an opportunity to generate returns for investors in the years to come."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.