May 28 – Vincent Tan, Malaysian owner of newly promoted English Premier League club Cardiff City, has indicated that he would be prepared to sell or float the club on the stock markets.
With the Premier League on the verge of a huge hike in broadcast revenues next season, interest from potential investors would be high. Next season Premier League clubs can expect to receive a minimum £120 million per season from centralised commercial deals – a rise of more than £50 million on previous seasons.
Tan took control of Cardiff City when he bought 36.1% of the club’s shares in 2010. The discussions to take the club public are at an early stage, with the listing likely to be on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
The only other Premier League club to recently list on a public stock market is Manchester Untied last August who raised $233.2 milllion listing in the New York Stock Exchange. The shares launched at $14 and are currently trading at just under $18.
The tenth richest person in Malaysia, with a fortune of £1.3bn, Tan has sent mixed messages regarding his ownership of the club. On the one hand he has said that he would consider an offer for the club but has also said that he “would like to be here for the long haul”.
During his short time at Cardiff, Tan has already made a number of changes as well as winning promotion with manager Malky Mackay. He redesigned the club badge and changed the club’s official colours from blue to red. The Cardiff club’s nickname is the ‘Bluebirds’.
Fans were unhappy with the changes and even this last weekend supporters marched through the Cardiff city centre to protest against the rebranding. Tan has said the changes have been justified by the club’s success and has said there will no name for the club or further rebranding.
Cardiff have just missed out on promotion to the Premier League in each of the past five seasons. The Welsh club returns to the top tier of English football after 51 years.
Tan has promised to make £25 million available to spend on new players over the summer and before the close of the transfer window at the end of August.
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