777 Partners is investing heavily in the aviation industry – and in the sports business: Hertha BSC is the seventh football club in the world that the Miami-based private equity company has invested in.
Hertha BSC has a new investor in 777 Partners.
IMAGO/Matthias Koch
The core business was originally the insurance industry. Josh Wander and Steven Pasko, the two founders, created 777 Partners in 2015 when they bought a specialist insurer from their employer at the time – and over the years expanded it into a conglomerate that is now said to own investments worth around three billion US dollars . The investment company made a name for itself, especially in the aircraft leasing business (Boeing 737 Max) and with its participation in the airlines Flair (Canada) and Bonza (Australia).
In the footsteps of Red Bull
In addition, it has been making large-scale investments in the sports sector for years and has a stake in the British basketball league BBL and its top club, the London Lions. Hertha BSC is the seventh football club in the world that 777 Partners has joined. The first investment was FC Sevilla (Spain) in 2018, where 777 has since held 15 percent of the shares as a minority shareholder. In autumn 2021, 777 Partners replaced the toy entrepreneur Enrico Preziosi for 150 million euros as the owner of CFC Genoa (Italy), which was nevertheless relegated to Serie B at the end of the 2021/22 season. In 2022, the purchase of 70 percent of the shares in the four-time Brazilian champion Vasco da Gama and the takeover of Standard Liège (Belgium), the French third division club Red Star FC Paris and Melbourne Victory followed. In Paris, the fans of the third division mobilized against the new owner, in protest against the takeover they set the pitch on fire with Bengalos during a game in April 2022 and caused the game to be stopped.
777 Partners is also investing in the TV market through the Ata Football streaming service, which broadcasts various women’s football leagues. With the takeover of several football clubs on different continents, 777 Partners is following a strategy that is internationally well known for the Austrian beverage giant Red Bull and the City Football Group, which is supported by the United Arab Emirates. However, 777 Partners, which has a sporting influence at all locations and also wants to do this in Berlin, is clearly trying to leave the identity and core of the clubs taken over, some of which have a long tradition, largely untouched. “All the clubs that 777 has acquired have a strong identity and connection with their fans, which often goes beyond sporting merit. 777 has no intention of changing the traditions and identities of their clubs,” said Juan Arciniegas, Managing Director at 777, declared to global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright in the summer of 2022.
Lots of football know-how available
The aim is to create a global football multi-club network in which massive synergy effects are to be generated and used in all areas (data analysis, scouting, transfers, training, etc.). Global Sports Director of the 777 Football Group is the German Johannes Spors, who started out as a video analyst at TSG Hoffenheim under head coach Ralf Rangnick and later worked as a chief scout at RB Leipzig and Hamburger SV. Since his 777 promotion in the summer of 2022, the Heidelberg-born Spors has reported directly to Don Dransfield, CEO of the 777 Football Group. Dransfield, in turn, was instrumental in building the City Football Group’s network of a dozen clubs and powerhouse Manchester City before being poached by 777. Now Hertha wants to benefit from the know-how of the new strategic partner.
Fredi Bobic, who was fired as sports director at Hertha at the end of January, said at the beginning of December about the difference between the old investor, Lars Windhorst’s Tennor Holding, and the designated new investor: “It’s a big advantage, albeit on the someone on the other side who brings in football know-how. That makes communication much, much easier. You are talking to someone who has already had experience in the football business. That makes it more relaxed than if you have to explain something to someone, where you notice, nothing matters.” After months of negotiations, the deal is now complete – and 777 Partners has reached the next milestone, entry into the German market.
