Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) and Arctos Partners (Arctos) have today announced an investment and strategic partnership agreement that will see Arctos acquire a minority stake in the club from the French capital.
PSG retains majority ownership of the club and management control, although it advances some of the strategies to be pursued with this deal, which includes defining the way forward in relation to the stadium.
The idea is to take ownership of the Parc des Princes for a complete renovation, but if there is no agreement with the Paris City Council, the North American company will be the key to promoting the new stadium project and its operation.
“The partnership will lay the foundations for the next phase of PSG’s global growth and drive the club’s footballing and business success.”
“Arcto’s investment will go towards growing PSG’s operations and also supporting the club’s strategic real estate initiatives, including those related to its stadium and future phases of development of the world-leading training center of PSG in Poissy”, says the club’s statement.
Through this agreement, the new partner can reach up to 12.5 percent of the ownership of the club, worth about 4.3 billion euros and for which Qatar Sport Investment paid 70 million euros in 2011. The valuation of the French club is the highest so far which is made for a football club.
The agreement is important as Qatar’s objective is to open up to other markets and confirm its strategy of opening up to the rest of the world.
In this first deal, Arctos has not yet reached 12.5% ownership, but is the medium and long-term target if various targets are met.