Valencia Gives Ares-Led Consortium 42% Stake at €1.25 Billion Enterprise Valuation
Key Facts
Spanish soccer club Valencia announced a new partnership with Ares Management, which will acquire a 42% stake in the club in a deal valuing the enterprise at €1.25 billion. The club said the consortium will inject €100 million in new capital, available immediately for direct investment in the club. Ares is led by sports executives Anne Rodriguez and Corey Wolfolk, and its backers include George Roberts and Henry Kravis, co-founders and co-chief executives of KKR, as well as the Benar Sports Group. The deal remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The partnership gives the consortium a significant minority stake while leaving control of the club with Meriton Holdings.
The deal will be completed through Ares’ purchase of shares from Meriton Holdings, according to the club’s announcement, rather than through a publicly announced direct acquisition by KKR. Once completed, Meriton will remain the largest shareholder, while Kiat Lim will continue as club president. This structure separates the consortium’s backers from the company co-founded by Roberts and Kravis: the announcement names them among the investors backing Ares and does not describe the deal as an investment by KKR itself. The announcement did not specify Meriton’s remaining ownership percentage or the governance rights attached to Ares’ stake. But Meriton’s majority ownership and Lim’s continued presidency provide clear signs of leadership continuity after the new investors’ entry.
The announced €1.25 billion valuation is on an enterprise-value basis, not the value of Ares’ stake alone, and includes the club’s assets specified in the announcement, including the men’s and women’s teams and the current and new stadium projects. The current Camp de Mestalla stadium holds 49,000 spectators, according to the club, while the Nou Mestalla project targets capacity of more than 70,000 fans. The valuation therefore combines the club’s sporting operations, existing facilities and infrastructure project under development. The new capital injection is also tied directly to investment in the club: Valencia said the €100 million would be available immediately for direct investment. The announcement did not specify how that funding would be allocated between the teams, the stadium or other club needs.
The club has put the move to Nou Mestalla at the center of its next phase, describing it as its most important milestone in 100 years. It said the new ownership structure will lead its move to the stadium, which it hopes will become one of Europe’s largest, in Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city. Spain will host the 2030 FIFA World Cup alongside other countries, a context the club cited in discussing the project. In its presentation of its 2025 annual accounts, Valencia said construction had resumed after more than 15 years and that the opening was expected in 2027. The club also said financing for Nou Mestalla received an investment-grade BBB credit rating.
On sporting ambitions, Kiat Lim said the club wants its men’s and women’s teams to compete consistently in Europe and its academy to produce world-class talent. He added in the club’s statement: "Together, we will build a modern club whose men’s and women’s teams compete consistently in Europe and whose academy produces world-class talent." The statement links the new partner’s entry to sporting ambitions spanning both teams and talent development, alongside the stadium project. However, the announcement did not set a timeline for these goals or metrics to measure them. The next step is to meet the closing conditions and obtain the required regulatory approvals before the stake transfers to Ares.