davieG Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 http://www.thebluear...l/article.html? Leicester City are now owned 100 per cent by Asian Football Investments (AFI). The AFI consortium, led by City chairman Vichai Raksriaksorn and vice-chairman Top Raksriaksorn, had owned 80 per cent of the club, but they have now purchased the remaining 20 per cent from fellow shareholders Cronus Sports Management, who were fronted by Indonesian businessman Iman Arif. The link-up with Arif, former chairman of the Indonesian FA, had led to several young Indonesian players training at City. However, AFI were always the major investors in City, and the driving force behind the club's promotion challenge under the management of Sven-Goran Eriksson. Vichai is the head of the King Power Group in Thailand and, while AFI own City and not King Power, the company is providing strong financial backing for the club. The buy-out allows AFI to have complete autonomy on the decision-making process at City. City chief executive Lee Hoos said the move to complete ownership will provide a more efficient management structure at the club. He said City were in a very healthy position, and added: "It is always easy when you are dealing with just one party. Now they have got the whole club and there is no minority shareholder anymore. It is 100 per cent owned by AFI. "Whenever you have a more simplified structure, it always leads to a more efficient structure. "We have a simplified management structure now, which makes life a lot easier and makes the business a lot more robust. "AFI have always been the principle fund providers of the club anyway, and been the driving force behind the club. The club is in great shape." Hoos, who was appointed chief executive of City three years ago, has been helping AFI understand the business of football, which he admits is very different to any other business, but said they were getting to grips with the task. "I have done my best to help them," said Hoos. "Whenever you have anyone coming into a new business, you try to advise them as best you can. "They have their own ideas too. They are men of the world and self-made in their own right. "We have gone for some fairly significant players to bring in, and they probably didn't anticipate the amount of spend that they have done before they took over." Hoos added: "It is all about risk-management in terms of the money they are putting out and the potential for what they are going to get back, and they have felt comfortable about that."
bmt Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 Think a fair few people will be surprised at this; the general consensus seemed to be that a large amount of the money was coming from within that 20%
Stevosevic Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 That's not good, although to be fair, do we actually know all of the members of the consortium? It maybe that Top and his Dad are just running it but there are some wealthier investors in the background.
lee(lcfc) Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 so how much are these people worth, if they are giving sven no limits they must have more then 115 million
Itsthejoeker Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 so how much are these people worth, if they are giving sven no limits they must have more then 115 million Vichai has around $180m - But my guess is King Power is worth a lot It is hard to guess how much they are worth when we don't know who or how many people are involved in AFI
Kent Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 Think a fair few people will be surprised at this; the general consensus seemed to be that a large amount of the money was coming from within that 20% Yeah that was what I had guessed. Obviously none of us know but hopefully it won't affect the level of investment and will streamline things like Hoos said.
lee(lcfc) Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 would like to know how many investers are in afi and how much money.
MC Prussian Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 Just because one consortium has bought out the other doesn't mean there's more investors in the remaining consortium other than the Raksiaksorns.
Guest Bilo Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 There could also be the possibility of the people behing Cronus Sports Management now becoming part of AFI. The Raksriaksorns might be the public face of that organisation but it is a consortium and I would be in no way surprised that some of those involved in Cronus who wanted promotion this season have been paid off, and Arif who many presumed to be one of the main money men has now bought into AFI. Just a thought.
Libertine Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 Leicester City is delighted to announce that Asia Football Investments (AFI) has taken sole ownership of the Football Club. AFI owned 80% of the club, alongside Cronus Sports Management who owned 20%, prior to this announcement. The substantial financial backing given to the club both on and off the field by AFI has come from King Power, headed by Vichai and Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn. AFI announced their takeover of Leicester City Football Club in August 2010, ahead of being ratified by the Football League in October. Vichai and Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn became the first owners to be endorsed by the Football League's new examination of potential football club owners in the process. Leicester City Vice-Chairman, Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn spoke exclusively to LCFC.COM on today's announcement: "We are very pleased to now own 100% of Leicester City Football Club. This year has been a tremendous experience and everyone at the club is already putting the foundations together for next season. "I would like to thank the people of Leicester and Leicestershire for welcoming us in to their club and for showing us their support. We promise to do all we can to improve the club, deliver success and achieve a return to the Premier League." http://www.lcfc.com/...2361963,00.html
Jackirius Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 Just because one consortium has bought out the other doesn't mean there's more investors in the remaining consortium other than the Raksiaksorns. Well there obviously are or it wouldn't be an consortium.
Kent Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 Just because one consortium has bought out the other doesn't mean there's more investors in the remaining consortium other than the Raksiaksorns. There could also be the possibility of the people behing Cronus Sports Management now becoming part of AFI. The Raksriaksorns might be the public face of that organisation but it is a consortium and I would be in no way surprised that some of those involved in Cronus who wanted promotion this season have been paid off, and Arif who many presumed to be one of the main money men has now bought into AFI. Just a thought. Very good point.
lee(lcfc) Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 there got to be more then them two because if i had 180 mil i wouldnt give a manager no limits spending.
Libertine Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 there got to be more then them two because if i had 180 mil i wouldnt give a manager no limits spending. 'No limits' doesn't mean they'd be okay with him going out and spending £100m. Just because they haven't given him a particular figure doesn't mean he literally has a neverending pot of gold. Besides, wasn't it said that they are mostly dealing in loans?
Haydos Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 there got to be more then them two because if i had 180 mil i wouldnt give a manager no limits spending.
Guest Bilo Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 They won't mean no limit in theory but in practical reality. With the best will in the world, we aren't going to persuade £100m worth of talent to come and play for Leicester City in the second tier of English football even if that kind of money were available.
lee(lcfc) Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 yer true at the end off the day as long as they dont mess the club up and get us in the prem why should we be worried. we need to buy player and not buy crap
cc_star Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 Think a fair few people will be surprised at this; the general consensus seemed to be that a large amount of the money was coming from within that 20% I thought that too. I'd read that Cronus Sports Management was just an investment fund for Indonesians to invest in assets, including football teams - meaning there's an unlimited supply of money providing the fund still wants to invest in the club/product/service. Whereas AFI is little more than the Raksriaksorns, who's personal wealth is a lot to me, but not that great in the grand scheme of all things football. Also, another confirmation that they're investing at a level they hadn't anticipated, which kind of makes me think its promotion or bust this coming season. On the plus side the Raksriaksorns share the same ambitions as us and although they're interested in money seem to have the club and fans interests at heart more than most owners.
21st Century Fox Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 I still can't believe some people haven't got their heads around the 'no limits' thing yet! It does look as if Cronus Sports Management were around for the short term based on whether we got promoted this season. Hopefully if means that investors like Iman Arif have joined the AFI consortium but I would have thought they would have mentioned that and it seems strange as it looked as if his involvement was longer term based on his involvement with bringing in young Indonesian players. I don't like how Hoos keeps mentioning "simplified" in the article, like its the only good thing that has come from the change, but hopefully it does mean some sort of merging of the two.
davieG Posted 18 May 2011 Author Posted 18 May 2011 I still can't believe some people haven't got their heads around the 'no limits' thing yet! It does look as if Cronus Sports Management were around for the short term based on whether we got promoted this season. Hopefully if means that investors like Iman Arif have joined the AFI consortium but I would have thought they would have mentioned that and it seems strange as it looked as if his involvement was longer term based on his involvement with bringing in young Indonesian players. I don't like how Hoos keeps mentioning "simplified" in the article, like its the best thing that has come from the change, but hopefully it does mean some sort of merging of the two. I'm sure Hoo's would be able to come up with suitable 'words' to describe the benefits of someone new taken a % of the ownership. Take your pick of potential future announcements http://www.andrewdavidson.com/gibberish/?companyname=Leicester+City+Football+Club
SOCCERROO FOX Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 Nothing much has changed then they just brought out the minor shareholder.
ajthefox Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 It's all well and good that they own us 100% but their last album was dog shit..
Simmo86 Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 First thing that sprang to mind when I saw this is thats its not great news. As other people have said it looks like the real money men (cronus) just took the gamble on promotion this year and now they don't want to know anymore! Hope the Thai's have got some more backing behind them!
Larry_LCFC Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 The way that i understand it is that they have £115 mil or whatever as personal wealth i.e bank balance. They then have the value of "king power" as a business and other assets. If they borrow against KP bet they have got tidy fortune stashed away
Mack Posted 18 May 2011 Posted 18 May 2011 The most important thing in all this is where the money is coming from. They may be well off but if this money was all coming from banks loaned against club assets etc if they pulled the plug we would be in deep shit. More transparency is needed.
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