The man primarily responsible for ousting H&G is stepping down. Just want to say thanks for the good work, hopefully we wont see you again because if we do it prob means we're in the s hit again!
Exclusive: Broughton To Step Down At Liverpool For New Sports Venture
Martin Broughton, the man who last week secured a £300m takeover of Liverpool Football Club, is to quit his role at the club and front an investment vehicle that will plough hundreds of millions of pounds into sport-related businesses, I have learned.
Broughton will be chairman of Sports Investment Partners (SIP), a new business that will be run by his son Michael, a sports industry executive, and Nic Couchman, the founder and chairman of the specialist sports law firm Couchmans.
The fact that Broughton plans to step down as chairman of Liverpool after a short transition period (possibly of as little as several weeks) will surprise few people. However, the details of his involvement in his next major venture will be of interest to the City and beyond.
I understand that the launch of SIP has been planned since well before Broughton Sr was appointed to the chairmanship of Liverpool back in April, and was put on hold during the protracted resolution of the future of the club (which as if you need reminding was sold last week to New England Sports Ventures, owner of the Boston Red Sox).
SIP has already begun canvassing potential investors from the fund management and private equity industries, I’m told. It will raise money from co-investors as well as the firm’s own investors, for whom SIP will identify specific investment opportunities. The firm’s founders believe there is an opportunity to generate attractive returns from acquiring sport-related assets, particularly given the dearth of similar businesses focused purely on the sector.
According to figures from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the professional services firm, the European sports industry will be valued at $39.4bn this year, a figure that is projected to rise to $46.3bn over the next few years.
SIP aims to exploit an anticipated increase in sports-related merger activity during the next two years as well as a prospective ‘golden decade’ for sport in Britain, with Olympics, both rugby code World Cups, the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and potentially the 2018 football World Cup all being hosted here.
The new venture will focus on investments in four core areas: technology; betting and gaming; support services; and sport-related intellectual property, including events, properties and brands. It has not set a limit on the size of its investments although I understand that they are likeliest to be in the range of tens of millions of pounds.
Even before taking the Liverpool chairmanship, Broughton Sr had established a track record in the business of sport, having chaired the British Horseracing Board between 2004 and 2007. His son, Michael, has worked in senior positions in sports including Formula One, and at the sport-focused executive search firm, Nolan Partners.
Couchman founded his eponymous law firm in 2000, and has since worked with some of the world’s leading sports governing bodies as well as a string of high-profile players and athletes.
I understand that SIP’s founding trio will be backed by an advisory panel consisting of unidentified figures from the sports business sector and the City.
Broughton Sr is also chairman of British Airways and will become deputy chairman of International Airlines Group, which will be the new parent company of both BA and Iberia. There’s little doubt that Liverpool’s six-month auction ultimately enhanced his reputation (although there must have been moments during the process when he wondered whether that would be the case).
Just to recap: Liverpool has now been sold despite threats from the former owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, to sue for damages of about £1bn. As yet, there’s no detail about the timing or likelihood of any such legal action being filed.
Nobody involved in SIP could be reached for comment tonight.
