(Bloomberg) -- Spain’s soccer clubs backed a reworked proposal from CVC Capital Partners to pump funds into the nation’s top soccer league that will allow powerful opponents of the deal, including FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, to opt out.
The planned investment is now 2.1 billion euros ($2.5 billion), down from the 2.7 billion euros originally mooted, to take account of the teams not taking part, Javier Tebas, chairman of LaLiga said in a news conference.
The transaction comes at a key moment for a Spanish league hobbled, like others in Europe, by the impact of pandemic lockdowns as it seeks to pilot a recovery backed by the cash injection from CVC. But to make the deal palatable, the private equity firm had to accept a formula that would leave two of the world’s top clubs on the margins.
The watered-down transaction highlights the obstacles facing CVC in its attempts to invest in the febrile world of soccer, especially in a Spanish context where two global giants of the game dominate the landscape. A previous attempt to buy a 10% stake in the media company of Italy’s Serie A league stalled in February, while Germany’s elite soccer body broke off talks over media rights with a number of private equity firms in May.
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