Barcelona-based football club Espanyol stands 10th in La Liga. (Photo : EPA)
Guangdong-based model car manufacturer Rastar Group is set to buy up to 56 percent stake in Espanyol, a Spanish soccer club, as more and more mainland companies carry on pouring investments in Europe-based clubs.
The company's Hong Kong unit agreed to pay 78 euros ($85.43) per share for up to 56 percent stake that would amount to 17.8 million euros ($19.5 million) in total. The transaction will be settled in cash.
Espanyol is currently in the 10th place in the table of La Liga, the foremost professional football association of the Spanish football league.
Rastar, roughly valued at $3 billion in the stock market, also intends to put in 45 million euros ($49.3 million) more as an additional investment to the club based on a filing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Rastar is not alone. There is an on-going trend of Chinese companies buying up stakes in European teams. CEFC China Energy Company recently became the majority stakeholder in the Czech Republic's Slavia Prague. Earlier this year, 20 percent of Spanish soccer club Atletico Madrid was turned over to Chinese property giant Dalian Wanda Group Co. to the tune of 45 million euros.
For $7.7 billion, state-owned China National Chemical Corporation acquired tyre manufacturer Pirelli, which is part-owner of Inter Milan Football club. Meanwhile car manufacturer Peugeot agreed the sale of its FC Sochaux club, a French team that enjoyed a 66-year unbroken streak in its country's top division.
Speculations arise regarding the reasons of these recent acquisitions. Some say it is part of China's pitch to improve its standing in the global football theater, eventually bidding to host and win the World Cup.
Another possibility is that China might be beginning to create hubs for political presence and influence within countries that have growing Chinese populations. The goal could be to generate a favorable view of China in other nations, and to ultimately ease in Chinese industrial machinations and products into these countries.
It is also assumed that individual Chinese businessmen might be putting their money in Europe as a form of fortune protection. Corruption has been observed within Chinese football. So instead of feeding the injustice or risking the loss of assets, Chinese companies send their money elsewhere as a form of safe-keeping while maintaining to cater the state's ambitions in the global sports stage.
For Europe, this could very well be a sign that European sports is slowly moving away from deeply established socio-cultural beginnings to being on the payroll of new Chinese bosses. Teams and fans should at least be excited at the prospect of being well-funded courtesy of Chinese entrepreneurs.
