Dragan Solak New Majority Owner of Southampton FC

Southampton Football Club has confirmed that Sport Republic, whose lead investor is Dragan Solak, has completed the acquisition of a controlling stake in Southampton Football Club. Sport Republic is an investment firm in the sports and entertainment industry. They have purchased the shareholding of the club held by Gao Jisheng and will work in partnership with Katharina Liebherr who retains her minority shareholding, the club says in a press release.

– Over the last two years, together with the shareholders of our club, we have searched for the right partner to take the club forward. Today we have found the perfect solution for our club. Sport Republic are experienced investors, but also experienced within the world of elite professional sports. That combination is very hard to find, and we are thrilled to have reached an agreement that secures our short and long-term future – said Martin Semmens, CEO of Southampton Football Club.

– 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. As a club, we have never wanted to buy success, but to earn it. Sport Republic gives us the power to improve our operations at every level, helping us to reach for the success our staff work so hard for, and our fans crave. 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.

Solak, the Lead Investor of Sport Republic, likewise openly expressed his satisfaction over the agreement reached.

– 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 organization. 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 organization we plan to build – said Solak.

Sport Republic is a London-based investment firm in the sports and entertainment industry. Founded by Henrik Kraft and Rasmus Ankersen, former Co-Director of Football at Brentford FC, and backed by Lead Investor Dragan Solak, Sport Republic’s vision is to apply proprietary intelligence and data analytics to help sports businesses and sports technology companies reach their full potential, and the investment in Southampton FC should be only the first in a range of such projects.

United Grupa BROADBAND INVESTMENT S.à r.l.

United Group

Sport Republic

Southampton

Dragan Šolak

Katharina Liebherr

Gao Jisheng

Martin Semmens

Henrik Kraft

Rasmus Ankersen

football club

football club purchase