Chinese tycoon Gao Jisheng buys Southampton for a seat in planet’s most-viewed sports league

Gao Jisheng, the founder and chairman of Lander Sports Development Co., has bought control of Southampton Football Club, becoming the second Chinese tycoon to own a piece of the top tier of English football in the most widely viewed sports league on the planet.

Gao paid £210 million (US$ 272 million) to buy 80 per cent of Southampton, using his personal wealth instead of his company’s funds, beating back a Chinese buyout fund’s offer of £180 million, according to a source. The buyout fund later gave up pursuing the deal when Chinese regulators stepped up their scrutiny of overseas takeovers, which would have prevented it from remitting its funds abroad for the acquisition, said the source, declining to be named when discussing a confidential transaction.

Southampton’s current owner Katharina Liebherr will retain 20 per cent of the club. “I am pleased to confirm talks to bring in a new partner to our club have been concluded,” she said in a letter to the club’s fans on Monday. “Following extensive and fruitful work, we are entering into a partnership with the Gao family and I am excited about what we will achieve together.”

The acquisition, which was signed in late January this year, had been sealed before China’s government regulators brought the gates down on outsized overseas purchases by some of the country’s largest private entrepreneurs.

In June, the government singled out several of these entrepreneurs – Anbang Group, HNA Group, Fosun Group and Wanda Group – for scrutiny, including the buyer of AC Milan football club.