Porto owners take Newcastle lead and put club up for sale

The owners of Portuguese giants FC Porto are willing to sell part of the club to foreign investors, according to a report in Bloomberg. The Dragons are mired in a financial crisis and have expressed their readiness to listen to offers for a minority share in the club after receiving several inquiries from interested parties. Porto’s decision comes shortly after Newcastle United was sold to a Saudi Arabian consortium backed by the kingdom’s public investment fund, prompting protests from the rest of the Premier League.

Porto’s owners have been working with London-based sports assessment firm Certus Capital Partners, to evaluate the suitability of the potential investors. As a consolidated top-flight side who are Champions League regulars, Porto represent an attractive proposition for sovereign funds and private investors without the risk factor that the Saudi consortium have taken on with Newcastle, currently winless in nine Premier League games and 19^th in the table.

Porto hit by covid losses

Porto have always had a reputation as a selling club, developing talent in their academy or buying cheap from South America and then cashing in on their stars when their value peaks. However, the coronavirus pandemic has left the club with losses of €116 million. Last season’s run to the quarter-finals of the Champions League helped to balance those losses to an extent but the club’s bank balance is still not too encouraging, hence the search for foreign capital.

If and when that investment arrives it will be another sale in what is becoming a regular occurrence of European clubs offering themselves to foreign consortiums and sovereign funds, following the lead of Newcastle, Manchester City, PSG, Inter, Roma and others. The pandemic has opened the door for international investors to buy their way into European football like never before and the lay-outs required to do so are becoming more and more accessible.