Benfica become latest top European club, and first in Portugal, to secure US investment with minority sale

Portuguese giant Benfica have become the latest football side that receives American investments with Lenore Sports Partners (LSP) today finishing the purchase of an interest of 5.24% in the Lisbon Club.

Jean-Marc Chapus, co-founder of private equity company Crescent Capital, is the management under the quartet of investors who have bought the importance in what the first copy is of American investments on a Portuguese side. In a statement, Blackbridge Sports LLC, which LSP connected in 2022 with Benfica’s Holding Company, said that the new minority owners “will play a crucial role in further strengthening the international presence of Benfica, in particular in the strategically important American market.”

Benfica is one of the most successful clubs in Portugal and indeed worldwide with a record 38 domestic competition titles and two European cups won in 1961 and 1962. In recent decades they have settled as one of the great talent factories of the sport, who have presented them as a prominent returns.

“Completing this transaction was not without challenges,” said Alexander Jarvis of Blackbridge, adding that it had been “a particularly complex deal to complete.

“Benfica is a global powerhouse in player development, which has generated more than € 1.5 billion ($ 1.7 billion) since 2000 in the transfer sales – but it remains considerably undervalued. Blackbridge is proud to have presented this opportunity and work out LSP and this part of the new partnership. to support.”

Chapus, who is a member of the Milwaukee Brewers advisory board (owned by his co-founder in Crescent Capital Mark Attanasio), is accompanied by Elliot Hayes and Omar Imtiaz. Hayes is a former investor in the French side and becomes one of the first African-American investors in two top European clubs. Imtiaz was also part of the beautiful hierarchy prior to sale to Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The investment is supposed to have been between $ 20.8 million and $ 23.1 million (€ 18 million to € 20 million). More than three percent of the importance was protected by the auction of shares that are publicly traded on the Portuguese stock market.

What it means for Benfica

The investment comes at an important moment for Benfica, who pushed sporty close by but eventually falls short in the race for last season’s Portuguese title. This means that the Bruno Lage side must go through the qualification to gain access to the wealth that is accompanied by involvement in the Champions League League phase, estimated at least $ 50 million. The run from last season to the round of 16 is supposed to have been worth $ 80 million.

The question is also how Benfica adapts to the particularly competitive market for South American talent. Estadio da Luz has long been a bridge point for players who move from Argentina and Brazil with a view to a future move to La Liga or the Premier League. It turned out to be extremely lucrative for Benfica, the Jarvis notes of $ 1.7 billion above often come from players who had been brought over the Atlantic for a few million.

Angel di Maria, David Luiz and Ramires were among the first players to follow that path, in recent years they have been followed by Fernandez. Gianluca Prestianni, once compared to Lionel Messi, could be the next one, but Benfica now has to fight with the kind of teams they were selling their young stars.

Real Madrid has spent heavily on bringing Franco Mastantuono and Endrick directly to Spain, as Barcelona did with less success in the business of Vitor Roque. The Premier League also fights for talent in South America, Willian Estevao goes from Palmeiras to Chelsea and Claudio Echeverri from River Plate to Manchester City in 2024 because Julian Alvarez had two years earlier.

It is remarkable that of the three Argentines on their selection last season, one prestianni and two, Di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi, were veterans who returned to Portugal at the back of their career. Benfica retains an extraordinarily productive academy, from which Antonio Silva seems to be the next Breakout star, but they already seem to adapt to the new reality of the market. Sprenkeld with well -known Brazilian and Argentinian acquisitions in the past two seasons are players from Turkey, the Netherlands, Norway and Germany. Perhaps in the coming years that will be seen as a different case in which Benfica is in front of the market. What is now clear is that the Portuguese giants have to adapt to the competition.