Southampton confirm £100m takeover by Serbian-born businessman Dragan Solak
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Southampton on Tuesday 4th January confirmed the takeover worth £100m by a Serbian-born businessman Dragan Solak who is said to be the owner of the cable-TV operator company United Group. The founder of United Group has invested a hefty amount of his fortunes in a controlling stake in Southampton who are 14th in the Premier League table, 10 points above the relegation zone. Dragan Solak has bought the majority ownership which is 80 percent from Gao Jisheng, a Chinese business man who previously bought the stakes in 2017 as her ownership comes to end. Katharina Liebherr retains her 20 percent minority shareholding.
Here is the official club statement released by Southampton- “Southampton Football Club can today confirm that Sport Republic has completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in Southampton Football Club. Everyone within the Southampton community would like to wish Mr Gao and his family well for their future.”
Solak’s idea behind the Southampton takeover is the strategy employed by the Manchester City owners to oversee and examine offers for various clubs in other international leagues. Rasmus Ankersen, the former Brentford co-director of football, Henrikh Kraft who is a London-based investor and chairman of Sport Republic also played key roles in the whole takeover process.
Who is Southampton’s new owner Dragan Solak ?
Dragon Solak is a Serbian-born businessman who is the founder and chairman of Serbia media group called United Group. Solak began with a small cable company but has now grown to be one of the major broadcaster, broadband and mobile company in Southeast Europe. Solak being a fan of golf is also the chairman of Eligo, which is a Surrey-based company for golf tourism.
Here’s what Dragan Solak had to say after the Southampton takeover was successfully completed, “Southampton has so many of the qualities we have been looking for in a major sports organisation. It has a great management team, excellent talent development, talented teams playing attractive football and a dedicated fan base.”
Solak further added that he will do everything to take the clubs to new heights in the coming years, “We are delighted to be able to complete this acquisition as a first step towards execution of our investment strategy. Southampton will be a cornerstone of the organisation we plan to build.
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Waseem Shaikh
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