Is the financier behind the deals for Man City and Newcastle preparing a bid for West Ham?

[00:00:00]Do you really want to be investing into a club again very soon?

[00:00:03]>> Newcastle United?

[00:00:04]>> Maybe. You don't know. There are amazing clubs around that.

[00:00:10]>> Hello and welcome along again to Spears coverage from here in Rome at FII Priority Europe where I'm delighted to say that we've managed to catch a quick word with Amanda Staveley, the principal of PCP Capital Partners. Amanda, thank you for being with us.

[00:00:26]>> Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here, especially with Spears.

[00:00:31]>> Excellent. And I mean, Europe, it gets a bad press. It's There've been mixed opinions on either side of this debate.

[00:00:38]Where do you stand? How optimistic are you from an investor's perspective about putting money into Europe?

[00:00:44]>> I think Europe's such a a critical um jurisdiction and and um we're very pro-European. I was, you know, a a very avid remainer.

[00:00:54]Um not a Brexiteer. So, that from a British point of view, you know, I always felt that Europe was critical for developing great um stable businesses in in the UK. But as a global investor, we love Europe, actually. And um it you know, we've been looking at more and more uh investing in digital uh assets, and that space is very exciting at the moment in Europe.

[00:01:16]>> Okay.

[00:01:17]>> The regulatory environment um around crypto and around digital assets through uh MiCA has been fantastic. So, they've moved very quickly. Europe's moved faster than the UK.

[00:01:29]Um and I think that's um you know, testament to just how how quickly these markets move. Uh and so, well, people have always said to me before Europe tends to slow be slow on regulation, but in some respects, you know, they've they've forged ahead.

[00:01:47]>> Any particular categories, companies, individual countries within that picture that are interesting?

[00:01:52]>> Quite a lot of opportunities at the moment. I I'm going on a board of a a a a a really exciting uh business called Control Alt, but that's we're going to announce that in a couple of weeks, which is a tokenization business.

[00:02:06]And we're looking at an investment into them. We work a lot with a fantastic business called OKX, which we're really proud of.

[00:02:15]They're also great sponsors of Man City Football Club and sports assets. So from digital crypto all the way to sport. Our our main focus has been the raising of our new sports and media fund and investing that money.

[00:02:33]>> Okay, fantastic. Can you tell us a little bit about that fund?

[00:02:36]>> So we're looking at the whole ecosystem and it's a global fund, not just UK and Europe, but the US as well and Asia.

[00:02:45]We've got some fantastic general partners.

[00:02:48]We've got the Reuben brothers with us again, which is really exciting.

[00:02:53]And so we're here and we're very proud of the work we did with PIF.

[00:02:58]That we did with Newcastle and we're trying to kind of replicate that journey and what we do. So looking for really opportunistic assets that you can buy well, invest well, eventually exit, which is always a difficult a difficult subject.

[00:03:15]>> And tell us what the opportunity is within football specifically. I mean, they're complicated assets, football clubs. A lot of people seem to think there's value in them. A lot of people are drawn to it just cuz it's fun as well.

[00:03:28]What's the real value creation opportunity out there?

[00:03:31]>> I think with with football, I mean I can link to my own personal experience.

[00:03:38]Obviously, you know, for us prior to looking at football, we all were very passionate about Newcastle.

[00:03:45]Newcastle is an amazing brand, haven't had a huge amount of investment. But we look for assets that are where we can really build and develop a brand and and develop a growth.

[00:03:58]>> And how do these different clubs look? I mean, there's a really interesting example which you may be familiar with with the Lake Como Como Football Club. They've sort of looked at this as not a traditional football club, but almost as a luxury brand.

[00:04:11]>> Luxury brand.

[00:04:12]>> And I mean, are you are you thinking along those lines as well or more traditional stuff in the fashion of Newcastle?

[00:04:17]>> That's not we're looking for sporting success. I mean, the biggest thing that drives football is is football success.

[00:04:24]So with Newcastle at the fundamental basis of that deal was to make sure that we could get the right football. And that's really hard. I mean, anybody going into football, I can tell you it's really tough. It is hard work. It is it is exhausting. It there are great highs, great lows, but it's you've got to get the the buying right, you've got to get the selling right, you've got to get the investment right. So our focus was very much on on buying businesses that we could develop.

[00:04:54]That doesn't mean to say that other, you know, that Lake Como wouldn't be a brilliant brand to develop a a high-end football brand.

[00:05:02]But our own particular expertise is much more focused on delivering the right football results on the ground.

[00:05:11]>> And one club that would love the right football results at the moment and into the next season is Tottenham Hotspur.

[00:05:18]What can you tell us about the situation there? Are you interested?

[00:05:21]>> Ooh, gosh. Um, we've looked at a lot of clubs including Tottenham, but we are looking at clubs around the Premier League and the UK, Europe, and you know, we're hoping and we really want to be buying going in and investing into a club again very soon, hopefully.

[00:05:39]But there's some amazing clubs Maybe. You don't know. There are amazing clubs around that.

[00:05:46]Um, so again, you know, great brands, same thing, same story. And we do like I think I think both my husband and I were attracted to building a business where we can take a brand that isn't doing so well, a club that isn't performing well, get it on the right uh uh to road and bring that forward.

[00:06:08]And and that means um you can't you know, there are very few clubs that work. If If you want to tick every box, there's actually very few clubs that allow that.

[00:06:20]>> And as we say, you know, captures everyone's imagination sport, but it seems to me at least that there's a real sort of concentration of interest among high net worth individuals, often billionaires or their family offices, getting involved in these clubs. What would you say to someone who thinks they might like to take that leap, but doesn't know yet how to do it or where to go or how to go about it?

[00:06:43]>> Um, look, it's that's why we're doing our sports and media fund, so you can get access to those types of deals. Um, the it's it's the finding the right assets is hard. It's capital intensive, so you want to make sure you've got good partners. We had amazing partners with PIF and the Reuben family at Newcastle.

[00:07:03]And one of the reasons we did we chose Newcastle was we felt that the relationship eventually with PIF and Newcastle would be amazing. And that And And to people looking at now, they're you know, you've got to do your your due diligence.

[00:07:16]Um, and it's really important to make sure that you look at absolutely everything because a lot of people go into club deals and they haven't done a lot of due diligence and they see that it's it's very complex.

[00:07:29]Especially with the new regulatory environment in the UK. Um, there's a new football regulator, there are there are new financial controls in place um that not just affect profit and sustainability, but really affect how we invest in football.

[00:07:46]So, it's a it's a very complex subject.

[00:07:51]>> Excellent. Well, Amanda, I know you are in high demand today, so we will let you go, but thank you so much for joining us here at Leaders Sport Business >> Thank you very much. Lovely to speak to you.

[00:08:00]>> See you again soon.