Premier League side, Southampton Football Club has confirmed via a club statement that Sports Republic led by Serbian businessman, Dragan Solak, has completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in the club.
The deal will bring to an end the majority ownership of Chinese businessman, Gao Jisheng who has been looking to sell the 80 per cent stake he purchased in the club since 2017. The club confirmed that Katharina Liebherr will retain her 20 per cent minority shareholding.
According to Sky Sports, the deal which involves Gao Jisheng and sport and entertainment investment firm, Sport Republic, is reportedly worth £100million.
What they are saying?
Martin Semmens, CEO of Southampton Football Club, said, “Today we welcome a new beginning with a new ownership group. We have found partners with ambition for the future, but with a clear understanding of what Southampton stands for and the direction we must go in now. The strategy is to push forward with the plans we have had in place over the last two years, but with their support we can now do this with a renewed focus and speed. Continuity, stability, and clarity of the way forward are equally as important as the new initiatives and ideas we can now bring to the club.”
“Everyone at Southampton welcomes Dragan, Henrik, Rasmus and the people within Sport Republic to our great club. We searched the world for good people with the ambition and resources to lead us into the next era and I am happy to confirm we have found them. We can’t wait to get started and be part of the future of Sport Republic,” he added.
Commenting on the agreement, the Lead Investor of Sport Republic, Dragan Šolak said, “My partners and I have experience in long-term investments in the sports and entertainment industry and Sport Republic has been founded to combine this expertise and deliver something unique to the market.
“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.”
“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,” he added.
The Chairman of Sport Republic, Henrik Kraft, added, “Southampton’s CEO Martin Semmens will continue to run the day-to-day operations of the club, and Sport Republic will be working closely with him and his team to help the club grow.”
Who is Dragan Solak?
Born in 1964, Dragan Šolak is the lead investor of Sport Republic. He is also the founder and chairman of the Advisory Board of United Group.
Šolak has founded and developed many other companies in the past, his first being the motion picture production and distribution company, VANS, which he established in 1990 with a group of friends and movie enthusiasts.
The Serbian tycoon founded his telecommunications company back in 2000 and turned it from a cable operator in Serbia into a regional leader, delivering services across eight countries.
Šolak is also a passionate golfer who was deeply involved in the development of golf in the Balkan region and serves as the Chairman of the Board of the international golf group, Eligo.
What is Sport Republic?
Sport Republic is a London-based investment firm in the sports and entertainment industry. Founded by Henrik Kraft and Rasmus Ankersen and backed by lead investor Dragan Šolak, Sport Republic’s vision is to apply proprietary intelligence and data analytics to help sports businesses and sports technology companies reach their full potential.
