BLACK Knight Football and Entertainment have added a second club to their portfolio, with Bill Foley leading an acquisition of a significant minority stake in FC Lorient.
Reports in France indicate that Foley was in attendance on Wednesday night as Lorient shared a 2-2 draw with Monaco, with confirmation of the deal announced Friday Morning.
Whilst Foley is the frontman of the consortium that also includes Cannae Holdings, his own company, he will not own the stake in the French club directly.
Foley currently owns 30 per cent of Black Knight Football and Entertainment (BKFE), a holding company registered in the US as a limited partnership.
In a limited partnership there are multiple investors, but the limited partners are only liable up to the amount of their investment.
Foley serves as managing general partner of the LP, which tasks him with overseeing and running BKFE.
The company that directly owns Cherries is called Turquoise Bidco Limited, with Foley named as executive.
According to Foley, a similar company registered in France will own FC Lorient, with BKFE acting as the parent company.
Asked how the ownership structure will look moving forward, Foley told the Daily Echo: “Black Knight Football Club (BKFE) is going to own all the other clubs and then we will continue to raise money, if we need to, in Black Knight Football Club and it will make the investments.
“So that's going to be the holding company. It's actually a US LP (Limited Partnership) that owns, a UK company or a French company. So wherever we go, that will be the holding company.”
Adding more clubs to their portfolio is high on Black Knight’s agenda, with interest in Belgian club Sporting Charleroi not culminating in a deal. A club in South America is also targeted, with clubs in Brazil analysed.
Foley continued: “We have adequate funds right now to execute on the plan for the time being.
“But there may come a time we'll go out and raise more money, and we have the resources to do that. I'm not very concerned about it.”
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