In the latest attempt to axe the agreement under which Arena Sport, owned by the Serbian Telekom, purchased from the English Premier League the right to show the matches of the most popular league in the world for a period of six years, the owner of Telekom's competitor United Group has announced the purchase of the Premier League club Southampton FC.
According to our source from United Group, the controversial Serbian billionaire – who happens to be the richest Serb and who has purchased an 80 percent majority stake in Southampton for €120m – is to become a co-owner of the Premier League through this club and so get a vote in the association of the most powerful English clubs. Šolak aims to use this position to lobby and pressure the Premier League management in order to cancel the agreement with Telekom. According to all the relevant assessments, the agreement in question is the final nail in the coffin of United Group's owner's ambition to destroy Serbia's state operator and so secure a monopoly position in the telecommunications in Serbia and the region. Šolak's company SBB has been showing the Premier League matches on its sports channels for 12 years.
An article in the UK tabloid The Sun, stating that Šolak and his partners will not be throwing more money at the club – as most foreign owners in the Premier League do – but will focus instead on optimizing the club's business operations, indicates that this is the key objective of Šolak's purchase of the football club. This was confirmed in the statements for The Sun by the founders of the company Sport Republic, which has bought the stake in the club and whose lead investor is Dragan Šolak. People with knowledge of the situation claim that this is what is behind the investment, and our source's revelations will be confirmed in the fullness of time.
Deal via a previously unknown Šolak's company
As initially announced by the UK media and confirmed subsequently by the media owned by United Group, Dragan Šolak completed the purchase of Southampton through the investment firm Sport Republic, which is allegedly in sports and entertainment industry.
According to this information, Sport Republic is a London-based investment firm founded by Henrik Kraft and Rasmus Ankersen, former co-director of football at Brentford, with Šolak as lead investor. This deal is reportedly worth around 100 million pounds (app. €120m), and the new owner will be taking over the club's debt as well, currently also standing at around 100 million pounds. According to the available information, Šolak bought an 80 percent stake in Southampton from Chinese businessman Gao Jisheng, with the 20 percent stake in the club retained by former majority owner Katharina Liebherr. As the Premier League is operated as a company co-owned by the clubs which make up the world's most popular national league with the same name, Šolak's purchase of a majority stake in a Premier League club will give him the right to vote at the association's shareholder meetings. This controversial billionaire, accustomed to using money and corruption to secure decisions beneficial to him, counts on the fact that becoming part of the Premier League decision-making bodies will make it possible to influence the decision to terminate the agreement with Telekom, which he sees as a heavy personal and business blow.
The Kurir Team
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