Ultra groups declare victory after Blackstone backs out of DFL negotiations
The withdraw of American private equity group Blackstone from negotiations with Germany's DFL over an investment partnership for a new licensing deal was confirmed late yesterday evening.
German footballing ultra groups have used the occasion to declare victory in their ongoing protests against the influence of an outside investor in the German league body.
The DFL itself, meanwhile, has vowed to continue negotiations with the lone remaining venture capital firm involved in the deal. European capital firm CVC remains the only firm still eligible to secure a stake.
After the DFL itself excluded Swedish private equity firm EQT from a trio of investment funds bidding to earn a stake in the new DFL licensing deal, the league body responsible for administering Germany's top two footballing flights has only one potential partner left to negotiate with. American alternative investment fund Blackstone withdrew from negotiations yesterday. This news was confirmed in a terse statement from the DFL late last night.
German footballing ultra groups have used the occasion to declare victory in their ongoing protests against the influence of an outside investor in the German league body.
The DFL itself, meanwhile, has vowed to continue negotiations with the lone remaining venture capital firm involved in the deal. European capital firm CVC remains the only firm still eligible to secure a stake.
"Despite positive discussions, critical points have accumtulated during the detailed discussion phase with Blackstone," the two DFL managing directors, Dr. Marc Lenz and Dr. Steffen Merkel, wrote in the statement, "[Issues included] the totality of restrictive governance, economic aspects and other details."
The "business-insider" nature of the language doesn't lend itself to easy interpretation, but it is known that the current phase of negotiations enabled Balckstone and fellow potential stakeholder CVC to take a close look at the DFL's books and make demands about influence. American business news media giant "Bloomberg" is reporting that Blackstone had concerns over whether ongoing protests might stall or stain the deal.
Such reports cannot be independently confirmed, but it does stand to reason that protests from ultra groups inside of German football stadiums had some influence on Blackstone's decision. Some speaking on behalf of ultra groups were nevertheless prepared to declare victory. Germany's "Sport-Informations-Dienst" (SID) - an associated-press-like news aggregator - managed to solicit one such comment.
"Of course, this is the first success of the protests," Jost Peter, the first chairman of the fan organization "Unsere Kurve", told the SID on Wednesday, "The fact that Blackstone apparently considers the DFL clubs to be too hesitant only reveals who they want to get involved with here: an investor who obviously sees democratic structures and member-run clubs as detrimental to business."
Speaking on Wednesday's "Kicker Daily" Podcast, Kicker columnist and fan activist Helen Breit also noted that she felt Blackstone's withdraw counted as a sign that the protests were working. Breit also spoke on the nature of the protests themselves, rejecting the notion of dialogue and vowing that the disruptions would continue until either a re-vote sanctioning investor negotiations were held or negotiations were abandoned entirely.
"Protest has to be annoying and disruptive in order to attract attention," Breit said on the pod, "Otherwise there will be no reaction. The DFL cannot sit these protests out. They will continue and escalate, especially in light of the amateurish way in which the DFL is offering talks. A even stronger form of protest might be chosen."
For it's part, the DFL told the Sports-Information-Dienst that negotiations would proceed with the lone remaining potential investment partner left from the original trio of interested parties. Luxembourg-based CVC investment partners remains the only fund left. The SID published comments from the DFL claiming that "negotiations will proceed as scheduled".