Burnley owners ALK Capital in talks over buying Espanyol stake

New York Times

a day ago

Burnley's owners are in talks over buying a stake in Spanish top flight club Espanyol.
If a deal can be reached, Espanyol would be the second club linked to ALK Capital, the investment vehicle run by Burnley's owner Alan Pace.
A source with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, confirmed that ALK had been exploring investment opportunities at clubs in Europe for some time.
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ALK already have a 'strategic partnership' with Scottish side Dundee, while they explored an investment in Belgian club Kortrijk when former Belgium international Vincent Kompany was head coach.
Espanyol are currently owned by the Chinese company Rastar Group, which specialises in toy car production, and have been on the market since their relegation from La Liga two years ago.
They immediately returned to the top-flight via the play-offs and finished 14th last season — avoiding the drop after beating Real Valladolid on the final day of the campaign.
A deal would see Burnley become the latest Premier League side to pursue a multi-club model, and invest in Spain.
Manchester City's owners, City Football Group, bought Spanish club Girona in 2017, while V Sports, the owners of Aston Villa, own a stake in third tier side Real Union.
Brentford's holding company Best Intentions Analytics, run by the west London club owner Matthew Benham, bought third-tier Spanish side Merida AD in April this year.
Pace has links to Barcelona, having completed an MBA in the Spanish city, according to his LinkedIn profile.
ALK completed a takeover of Burnley in a £170million ($231m at current rates) deal via a leveraged buyout in December 2020.
JJ Watt, the former NFL star, became a minority investor in the Lancashire club in May 2023.
They were relegated from the Premier League under Kompany in 2023-24 but returned to the top flight at the first time of asking after finishing runners-up to Leeds United in the Championship last season, level on 100 points.
By The Athletic's La Liga correspondent Dermott Corrigan
Since its foundation in 1900, Barcelona-based Espanyol was controlled by local businessmen, until China's Rastar Group bought over 56 per cent of the shares in January 2016. The following August Rastar Group — whose main business back in China is making toy cars and video games — increased that stake to almost 100 per cent.
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Rastar's majority shareholder Chen Yansheng is Espanyol's club president. Including the president's son Chen Chuanghuang, all its other board members are Chinese, except legendary former player Rafa Maranon.
In November 2024 the club announced a new share issue which will take Rastar's total investment since 2016 to an estimated €163m. Yet, poor decisions in football and business have hurt. For the current campaign La Liga set Espanyol's (nominal) salary limit at €8.8m, due to the club having made losses in each of the last four seasons, even while selling key players such as Cesar Montes and Sergi Darder.
During Chen's presidency, they have bounced between Primera and Segunda — they were promoted back to La Liga for 2024-25, then needed a final day victory to stay up on the final day of the season.
President Chen spoke via TV link at the club's most recent AGM last December, admitting that the club's current strategic plan involved 'adapting to its current realities'. CEO, Mao Ye Wu also spoke of an intention of 'sustainable growth' into the future.
The ownership has often been criticised by fans groups and the remaining few minority shareholders. However Chen has regularly denied any intention to sell and said at the AGM that 'our commitment remains as strong as ever'.