January 04, (THEWILL) – A corporation led by Serb media billionaire Dragan Solak has taken over Southampton FC. Sport Republic has acquired Gao Jisheng’s 80 percent shareholding in the Premier League club, according to Southampton.
THEWILL recalls that in August 2017, Gao took over Southampton, with Katharina Liebherr, who inherited the club from her late father Markus in 2010 when it was in League One, keeping a 20% stake. In the new agreement, Liebherr will retain her minority interest.
After gaining promotion to the top division in 2012, Saints retained their top sight flight status and are now 14th in the EPL.
Southampton describes Sport Republic as “an investment firm in the sports and entertainment industry” while Solak is chairman and founder of the United Group media organisation.
Martin Semmens, the club’s chief executive, said the deal is the “perfect solution” for them: “Over the last two years, together with the shareholders of our club, we have searched for the right partner to take the club forward,” said Semmens.
“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.”
On his part, Solak said Southampton will be the “cornerstone” of his organisation going forward: “Southampton has so many of the qualities we have been looking for in a major sports organisation,” he added.
“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.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
