By Jonathan Easton
Spanish football league LaLiga has created a new holding company to oversee its international operations.
LaLiga Group International will operate the ‘Boost LaLiga’ project, with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners holding an 8.2 per cent stake.
The league announced that the company’s creation brings a financial injection of €298 million(US$341.2million), with €220 million going towards clubs that form part of Boost LaLiga. The remaining €78 million will be dedicated towards strategic projects promoted by the new holding company. This is in addition to a payment of €400 million in mid-January, with these first two financial injections representing 35 per cent of the €1.994 billion agreed in the Boost LaLiga project.
The league said that transferring business areas to this new International holding company will help it to achieve “maximum growth and modernisation in the medium and long term.”
The funding is promised to allow LaLiga clubs to start projects to help them grow internationally, committing them to allocating at least 70 per cent of the funds to infrastructure, international development, brand and product development, talent acquisition, communication strategy, innovation and technology plan, and content development on digital platforms and social networks.
President of LaLiga, Javier Tebas said: “This agreement, a first for professional sports in our country, will provide LaLiga clubs with the necessary boost to fast forward 20 years in terms of professionalisation and development.”
