From BZ/dpa
Bundesliga club Hertha BSC has a possible new investor. Many things were explored before a possible collaboration, does it fit in the end?
Bundesliga club Hertha BSC and potential investor 777 Partners have completed their introductory phase. “We’re done sniffing each other.
They wanted to know what’s going on at Hertha, we also wanted to know a lot about their business model,” said sporting director Fredi Bobic in a media round on Wednesday, “it was a very pleasant get-together.”
For three days, a delegation from the American investment company, which wants to take over the shares of the current investor Lars Windhorst and his company Tennor, was in Berlin for talks and examined the Berlin Bundesliga soccer club.
“It was a completely different onboarding now,” said Bobic in comparison to the relationship between Hertha and Windhorst.
Hertha President Kay Bernstein had previously paid a visit to the possible new partner during his vacation in the USA. “Now we’re looking to take the next step. At the end of the day it has to be clean and there must be no irritation,” said Bobic, who had spent “five hours” conferring with the possible new partner on Tuesday alone:
“Now the ball is in the hands of 777 and our current investor, Tennor. And then we will see.”
If Tennor and 777 Partners come to an agreement, Hertha itself could present a partner who would take over Tennor’s shares or, as an association, exercise a right of veto if the values of the US investment company do not match those of Hertha. Bobic ruled that out at the current status.
However, according to Bobic, it will still take “some time” for a contract to be drawn up and signed. “It’s not just one page,” said the 51-year-old, “a lot will happen. The most important message is that it was a good togetherness.”
It has not been clarified in the past few days whether the new investor – unlike Windhorst – will have a say. But Bobic makes it clear that the 50+1 rule applies in Germany: “We have 50+1, in the end we call the shots.”
The 50+1 rule only applies to German professional football and is intended to ensure that the registered parent club retains decision-making power even if it has spun off its professional football department into a corporation. It limits the influence of external investors.