Tony Fernandes announced as new owner of Queens Park Rangers
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Tony Fernandes has become the new majority owner of QPR alongside the Mittal
family, who retain their 33% stake.
The Malaysian airline entrepreneur Tony Fernandes is the new majority owner of
Queens Park Rangers having bought the whole of Bernie Ecclestone's 66% stake in
the club for around £35m. The price is understood to equal the total which
Ecclestone and his fellow investor Flavio Briatore have paid into QPR, in
shares and loans, since they took over the club in 2007, and does not amount to
a huge profit for the Formula One personalities.
"I've always wanted to be involved in football and the appeal of a London club
like QPR was too good an opportunity to turn down," Fernandes said. "QPR is a
raw diamond and hopefully I can contribute into turning it into a diamond. I
want the fans to be proud of what we're doing and be involved as much as we
can."
Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel magnate, is understood to be retaining his 33%
stake, although there had been discussions about increasing it by 10%. Mittal's
son-in-law, Amit Bhatia, who won respect from Rangers fans as chairman last
year before stepping down after season-ticket prices were increased and his own
takeover offer was rebuffed, is expected to rejoin the board and work closely
with Fernandes.
Fernandes is expected to pledge around £10m further to invest for new players
the manager, Neil Warnock, wants to sign in this transfer window to give
Rangers a more solid prospect of surviving in the Premier League. Scott Parker,
the West Ham and England midfielder, is likely to be one of Warnock's targets.
The new owner does not, however, intend to bankroll the club with his own
millions every year, but instead believes that on the Premier League's vast TV
income, it can grow within its means if run sensibly and with a strong youth
policy.
He will also not hide the intention to promote his own companies, the low-cost
airline AirAsia, or Malaysian Airlines, in which he and his partner recently
bought a 20% stake, with marketing initiatives, probably including sponsoring
the Rangers shirt.
Team Lotus, the Formula One team of which Fernandes is the owner and team
principal, is sponsored by AirAsia, which also sponsored last year's British
Grand Prix, and he has concluded that sport is a very profitable marketing
vehicle for his businesses.
Fernandes's 66% acquisition comes only two months after his second offer to buy
West Ham, the club he supports, was rebuffed by the Hammers' co-owner, David
Sullivan, who described it as "derisory". Fernandes then was approached to buy
QPR by Ecclestone, who has never seemed fully engaged or happy owning the club.
He and Briatore became bitterly unpopular with many fans after announcing
steepling ticket price rises as soon as Rangers won promotion in May, and they
looked for a sale and an exit route.
Fans who have become sceptical about the businessmen arriving as saviours to
buy their club are expected to be reassured that Fernandes is paying cash, not
borrowing to take over, and he is understood to want the existing loans in the
club, including from the Mittal family, to be converted into shares.
Born in Kuala Lumpur and educated in England, at the Epsom College boarding
school then the London School of Economics, Fernandes qualified as an
accountant and worked in the music industry for 14 years before doing the deal
which has made his real fortune – buying the then debt-laden AirAsia, with
three partners, for a token one Malaysian ringgit (20p) in 2001.
He said he mortgaged his home and had only £250,000 initially to invest in
AirAsia, which was then reshaped into a low-cost airline flying 18m passengers
to 65 cities in Asia and around the world, turning over £790m and making a
pre-tax profit of £200m, according to its most recent annual report. The
company Fernandes and his partners formed to buy the airline, Tune Air, still
owns 26% of AirAsia, and sources close to him say he has sold shares in AirAsia
to release the cash to buy into Rangers. Two of his partners in Malaysia are
understood to be investing in the club alongside him.
Rangers began the season on Saturday with a 4-0 home defeat to Bolton, playing
in a shirt without a sponsor, which club sources suggested then was because it
was being left ready for AirAsia's name. QPR fans can expect a smiling, clubby
style of ownership from a businessman who appears to relish all his activities,
and believes in modern communication, including via his energetic Twitter
account. There are suggestions that he wants to meet and talk to fans, then
actually reduce the ticket prices to a more reasonable increase on what they
were in the Championship last season.
If he makes good on his promises of investment without debt, and is open with
and approachable to supporters, he should win friends among fans who grew
miserable over the summer. It is, though, fiendishly difficult to give a small
club a fighting chance in the Premier League without overspending, and once the
deal is concluded, the hard work will begin.
