The future majority shareholder of Paris FC, Antoine Arnault, son of the owner of LVMH, wants to make Paris FC an important club. To do this, he promised significant investments over the long term.
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The future strongman of Paris FC Antoine Arnault detailed on Wednesday the outlines of his family’s takeover project of the second division club which aims to become the capital’s other high-level team by building “the best training center in France”.
“We are not coming to change everything, or overturn the table”insisted the son of Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, during a press conference at the PFC training center in Orly.
“We want to do things gradually, without skipping steps, that’s very important, because incantations never work very well in football”he added with the slogans “ambition”, “humility” and investment on “temps long”.
The takeover of the current leader of Ligue 2 by the Arnault family, via its holding company Agache, will be finalized “in a few days”specified the current president of the club Pierre Ferracci, present alongside Antoine Arnault.
An extraordinary general meeting of Paris FC is planned for November 29 during which a new board of directors will ratify this decision, specified Pierre Ferracci.
Antoine Arnault stressed that the club created in 1969 “will belong” to his “family” and not to LVMH. Also invested in the project, Red Bull, owner of clubs in Leipzig and Salzburg, will be a minority in Paris, not wishing to access multi-ownership, he detailed.
Future shareholders of Paris FC.
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© France 3 Paris Ile-de-France
The investment of the family which made its fortune in the luxury industry will be “consequent” assured Antoine Arnault, without further details.
The budget of Paris FC, which has taken care of its recruitment with a view to moving up into the men’s elite at the end of the season, is already around 30 million euros. It also has a women’s section already established at the high level.
The newspaper L’Equipe estimated last month that the Arnault family’s investment would be “between 100 and 200 million euros over several years” for a club valued at the height “around fifty million euros”according to a source close to the matter at AFP.
The Arnault family will own 52% of the club, Red Bull 11%, Alter Paris, Pierre Ferracci’s structure 30% and BRI Sports Holdings, representing Lycamobile, already a minority shareholder of the PFC, will retain 7% of the shares, detailed Pierre Ferracci.
In 2027, the latter will withdraw from the club and hopes to convince BRI to follow him to leave the Arnault family around 80% of the shares.
Beyond the figures, Antoine Arnault above all promised a commitment “at least 10, 15 or 20 years old”far from launching into a hypothetical immediate competition with PSG, owned by Qatar.
“PSG is a club that I have loved since I was 12 years old, I have been a season ticket holder for many years, I am invited by my friend Nasser (Al-Khelaifi, president of PSG) and you will never hear me say something negative about PSG. It’s a club that I admire.said Antoine Arnault.
And to add: “I do not rule out supporting two clubs in Paris. The day we are in Ligue 1, I will support PSG, except twice a year. What the club has achieved in recent years is extraordinary”.
The strategy of the PFC, which will count among its leaders the former president of PSG Michel Denisot, will mainly rely on training with the objective within one or two years, of perpetuating the club in the first half of the League table. 1 and compete for qualifying places for the European Cups.
The ambition is to build “the best training center in France” and integrate “5, 6, 7 why not 8 players” from this center in the first team, hopes Antoine Arnault. Like the policy pursued by its partner Red Bull in the German club Leipzig where the nuggets trained at the club are then resold to more prestigious teams once they have reached maturity.
“What we want” Above all, “it’s about scoring goals and minds”concluded Antoine Arnault.
