New | Wanda Group chairman Wang Jianlin plans to buy more sports assets
Wanda Group chairman may purchase sports marketing assets in US next
The mainland's richest man and chairman of property and entertainment conglomerate Wanda Group, Wang Jianlin, said he plans to buy three more sports companies this year on top of a recent 20 per cent stake in Spanish football club Atletico Madrid.
"Within this year, Wanda will still buy at least three sports companies," Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang as saying. "Upon the completion of these mergers and acquisitions, Wanda is going to be the world number one in the sports industry."
Wang did not give further details of which companies he planned to acquire though he referenced the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, for which China is bidding, and repeated his wish to see China become a serious footballing nation.
Speaking anonymously because his firm sometimes works with Wanda, a sports executive said Wanda might be looking at sports marketing assets in the US to complement existing European holdings.
It has already been a busy year for Wanda. In addition to the Atletico stake, which cost around US$48 million, the Beijing-based firm paid US$1.2 billion for sports marketing group Infront Sports & Media in a deal designed to boost Wanda's profile in global sports, Wang said at the time.
Infront's chief executive is Philippe Blatter, nephew of Sepp Blatter, the outgoing Fifa chairman whose grip on world football began to loosen last month when nine senior Fifa executives and four executives of sports management companies were arrested on charges of receiving bribes worth US$100 million.
Wang has not commented at length on the Fifa scandal or discussed how Sepp Blatter's imminent departure might impact Infront given the firm holds the Fifa contract to sell football television rights across Asia, including in China.
Wang, whose firm also owns US cinema chain AMC Entertainment and is building theme parks in China, also said "there will soon be good news announced about Chinese football", without elaborating, Xinhua reported.
Wang's ambitions mesh with those of President Xi Jinping, who has stated his wish to see China host and win the World Cup.
The two share more than just a love of football, however. Xi's relatives were early-stage Wanda shareholders and at one point held stakes worth several hundred million US dollars, a report by the New York Times revealed.
