Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim sells 42% of Valencia, valuing club at $1.4 billion

Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim has agreed to sell as much as 42% of Spanish football club Valencia CF to a US-led investor group backed by KKR & Co. co-founders George Roberts and Henry Kravis, in a deal that values the club at €1.25 billion ($1.4 billion).

Pitchwise Holdings will buy existing shares from Meriton Holdings, Lim's investment company, starting with a significant minority stake that will rise to 42% over time, the club said on Oct. 23. Pitchwise will also put €100 million ($112 million) of new capital into Valencia for direct investment in the club. Neither side disclosed the price paid for the shares.

Meriton will remain the majority shareholder. Kiat Lim, Peter Lim's son, will stay on as club president, and Pitchwise's general partners, Ann Rodriguez and Corey Woolfolk, are expected to take active leadership roles. The deal still needs regulatory approval and must meet other customary closing conditions.

"There has been no shortage of interest in Valencia; the Pitchwise team was the only partnership I was keen to pursue," Kiat Lim said in the statement.

Who is buying

Pitchwise is a group of private family offices and long-term institutional investors. Besides the family offices of Roberts and Kravis, who built KKR into one of the world's largest private equity firms, its backers include Penner Sports Group, the investment arm of the Walton-Penner family ownership group of the NFL's Denver Broncos. Penner Sports Group also owns a minority stake in baseball's Colorado Rockies.

"We're honoured to join Kiat in the stewardship of Valencia CF, one of the great institutions in Spanish football," Rodriguez and Woolfolk said. Roberts called the investment "the most exciting opportunity in European football."

The €1.25 billion figure is an enterprise value, which includes the club's debt, and it covers the men's and women's teams, the current Mestalla stadium and the new ground under construction. It is almost 10 times Valencia's revenue for the 2024-25 season.

A new stadium and unhappy fans

The new stadium, Nou Mestalla, is central to the investment. It will hold more than 70,000 fans, up from 49,000 at the Mestalla, and is due to open next year, ahead of the 2030 World Cup that Spain will co-host with Portugal and Morocco. Valencia borrowed €322 million ($361 million) last year to finish it, after construction stood idle for more than a decade.

Lim, 73, bought 70.4% of Valencia through Meriton in 2014 for about €100 million, when the club was struggling with heavy debts. His 12 years in charge have been marked by poor results, frequent changes of coach and repeated fan protests calling for him to sell. The club has started the current La Liga season near the bottom of the table.

The sale follows a run of private equity deals in Spanish football. US firm Apollo Global Management bought a majority stake in Atletico Madrid earlier this year, and CVC Capital Partners took a share of La Liga's commercial business in 2021.

Lim made his fortune as a stockbroker in Singapore in the 1980s and 1990s, earning the nickname "Remisier King." He invested about $10 million in palm oil company Wilmar International in its early years and sold his shares in 2010 for about $1.5 billion. He also controls Thomson Medical Group, a Singapore-listed hospital operator. He is worth an estimated $1.85 billion.