TheChek News Flow

Deal for Spanish team is private capital group’s first major sports acquisition since forming a $5bn investment vehicle

Apollo Global Management has agreed to buy a majority stake in Atlético Madrid, in a deal that values Spain’s third largest football club at more than €2bn and marks the US group’s first major investment in football.

The deal values Atlético at €2.5bn including debt, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, although another person put the figure at just higher than €2bn. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Apollo is acquiring the stake in Atlético — one of the largest investments into European sport by a private capital company — through its new $5bn sports investment vehicle, Apollo Sports Capital.

The New York-based group, which manages more than $800bn of assets, has been accelerating its push into sports, with investments ranging from Premier League football clubs in the UK to horseracing ventures.

Atlético has established itself as the strongest challenger to dominant Spanish rivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. It has qualified for Europe’s lucrative club competition, the Champions League, for 12 years running and reached the final twice in that period.

The club’s revenues were €410mn in the 2024 financial year, up 12 per cent year on year, according to Deloitte. Its sponsors include Saudi airline Riyadh Air, US sportswear company Nike, the Visit Rwanda tourism organisation, and crypto trading platform Kraken.

Atlético’s existing shareholders — chief executive Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, chair Enrique Cerezo, Ares Management and Quantum Pacific Group — are selling down part of their stakes but will remain invested in the club.

Atlético said on Monday that its shareholders intend to invest additional capital to support its long-term plans, and that Gil and Cerezo will continue in their respective positions.

Apollo is one of a number of private capital firms aggressively pushing into European sports.

Clearlake Capital acquired English Premier League club Chelsea for £2.5bn in 2022, while RedBird Capital took over Italian side AC Milan in a €1.2bn deal the same year. Last year, Oaktree Capital seized Inter Milan when its Chinese owners failed to repay debt.

The Atlético deal is set to crystallise a healthy return for Ares, which acquired a 34 per cent stake in the club for €182mn in 2021.

The talks with Apollo emerged out of Atlético’s hunt for investors to back the Ciudad del Deporte, a sports and entertainment district next to its stadium. In talks that were originally limited to Apollo helping to finance the €800mn project, the US firm raised the alternative idea of it purchasing a stake in the club.

Robert Givone, Apollo partner and co-portfolio manager of its new sports vehicle, highlighted the opportunity of the Ciudad del Deporte project as part of its rationale for the deal.

“Supporting the ambitious plans for the sports city can create significant value for both the club and the local economy,” he said. The deal is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2026.

Government officials have sought to reduce flight capacity at airports to ease strains on air-traffic controllers

The FAA is slated to restrict private flights at 12 major airports starting Monday to ease air-traffic controller workload during the government shutdown.

The National Business Aviation Association stated that the FAA’s order effectively halts business aviation operations at these airports.

The FAA previously mandated a 4% traffic reduction at 40 major airports, increasing to 10% by Friday, November 14.

The Federal Aviation Administration is slated to limit business jets and other private flights to some of the country’s largest airports to ease strains on air-traffic personnel during the government shutdown.

The restrictions are due to begin Monday and will affect private jet flights at a dozen airports, including Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver and Chicago’s O’Hare, according to the National Business Aviation Association trade group.

The FAA’s plan effectively halts business aviation operations at those airports, the trade group said.

“Safety is the cornerstone of business aviation, and NBAA is fully committed to ensuring the safety of the NAS,” Ed Bolen, the trade group’s chief executive, said in a statement Sunday. He added that the group will ensure that business aviation operators understand the restrictions and their implications.

The FAA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. transportation officials have said that efforts to curb air traffic are designed to alleviate workload on controllers who are increasingly stressed and fatigued after going weeks without pay. Controllers are calling in sick while working second jobs, prompting sharp reductions in air travel with fewer FAA employees to oversee air traffic.

The FAA on Friday required 40 major airports to reduce traffic by 4%. Airlines canceled over 3,600 U.S. flights between Friday and Sunday, according to data from FlightAware.

The FAA’s initial order called for reductions to increase to 6% of capacity by Tuesday, 8% by Thursday, Nov. 13, and 10% by Friday, Nov. 14.

In addition to the cancellations, staffing strains at airports are resulting in sizable delays for travelers. About 50% of departing flights at Chicago’s O’Hare were delayed Sunday, and more than half of scheduled departures at airports in Detroit, Orlando and New York City were delayed.

Some politicians, including Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), had publicly called on the FAA to reduce private jet travel.

The National Business Aviation Association said the affected airports are:

Hedge fund Millennium’s stake sale

For the first time in its 36-year history, Millennium Management’s billionaire founder Izzy Englander parted with equity in the firm as it offloaded a stake to a group of investors.

The 15 per cent stake sale values Millennium at about $14bn and is the latest move by the hedge fund group to prepare for life beyond its founder, who is in his 70s, writes Costas Mourselas.

In an email to staff on Monday, the New York-based hedge fund said it had sold the “minority, passive equity interest in Millennium’s management company” to a group that included some of its largest institutional investors.

The equity investments, which would be worth about $2bn for a 15 per cent stake, were made through funds managed by Goldman Sachs’ Petershill group, which invests in hedge funds and private equity firms.

“This transaction is the latest step in our evolution and further positions Millennium for the future,” the email said. The firm declined to comment.

Millennium is one of the pioneers of a multi-manager hedge fund structure, where hundreds of trading teams known as “pods” operate across markets rather than a few star traders.

The strategy has enabled Millennium to accumulate $79bn in assets under management and become one of a select few hedge fund giants that dominate the industry.

As well as bringing in outside investors to the management company, senior staff at the hedge fund were also due to participate in the stake sale.

Millennium had already moved most of its fund investors into a longer-term share class that increases the time it takes to withdraw capital to five years, similar to a private equity vehicle. The typical hedge fund might impose a redemption period of between a month and a year.