By Mark Baber
January 20 – Communist multi-billionaire Wang Jianlin is set to take a 20% stake in La Liga Champions Atletico Madrid, with the agreement being signed on tomorrow, according to media reports.
The Atlético Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has flown out to Beijing to join club CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín who has been working on finalising the deal, reportedly worth €40 million.
Wang Jianlin’s father participated in Chairman Mao’s Long March and he himself went on to join the People’s Liberation Army and has been a Communist Party member since 1976, becoming a Vice-Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and being a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference since 2008.
Using his Party connections to buy property at a discount, Jianlin has built up the Dalian Wanda business empire, based mainly on a chain of large scale shopping developments and the largest group of cinemas in the world.
In 2012, Forbes named Jianlin as China’s richest man, though he has slipped back to fourth in the October 2014 listing due to falls in commercial property prices and despite an estimated fortune of $13.2 billion.
As the Chinese Communist Party leadership has focused on external investment and developing world-renowned brands in order to “enhance Chinese culture as the country’s soft power” so Jianlin has looked abroad for expansion, buying the ‘Torre de Espana’ building in Madrid, AMC Entertainment Holdings (the largest ever overseas investment by a Chinese company) and aiming to control 20% of the global film market by 2020.
At the last meeting of world leaders in Davos Jianlin told the audience: “We have a new target – to be a transnational company. That is why we go abroad.”
In recent days Jianlin has also been linked with a possible investment in Southampton of the Premier League. Southampton of course play in red and white (Atletico having bought Saints shirts to play in in 1911) which may be the common link, given Jianlin probably has the material resources and ideological support to buy any clubs of his choosing.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734887431labto1734887431ofdlr1734887431owedi1734887431sni@w1734887431ahsra1734887431w.wer1734887431dna1734887431