KKR founders back Valencia in deal valuing football club at €1.25bn
Family offices of KKR co-founders George Roberts and Henry Kravis are part of consortium that has agreed to take 42% stake in Spanish team
A group of US investors including the family offices of KKR co-founders George Roberts and Henry Kravis has bought a stake in Spanish football club Valencia at a valuation of €1.25bn, making it the latest European team to attract new capital.
Pitchwise Holdings, a consortium that also includes Penner Sports Group — owner of the Denver Broncos NFL franchise — has agreed a deal to take a 42 per cent stake in the club, including a capital injection of €100mn.
Valencia CF has been owned by Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim for more than a decade but has been on the hunt for new shareholders since 2025.
The club is preparing to move to Nou Mestalla, a new 70,000-seat stadium and one of the possible host venues for the 2030 Fifa men’s World Cup. The project has a turbulent history, with construction work beginning in 2007 before being halted for 16 years. The new stadium has undergone multiple redesigns during that period.
The club’s €1.25bn enterprise value includes debt taken on to fund the stadium construction, such as the €322mn of financing arranged last year. Valencia’s current home, the Mestalla, sits on prime city-centre real estate. Once the team moves, it will be knocked down for redevelopment.
Spanish football has attracted interest from private equity in recent years. In March, US group Apollo acquired a majority holding in Atlético Madrid, valuing the club at about €2.5bn, while Sixth Street has investment deals with both Real Madrid and Barcelona. CVC Capital Partners invested about €2bn in the commercial business of La Liga, which runs Spain’s top two divisions, in 2021.
Private equity executives, such as Apollo co-founder Josh Harris, have also been highly active in investing in sports teams around the world.
Valencia was one of Spanish football’s dominant clubs at the turn of the century, winning the league title in 2002, and both the Uefa Cup and Spanish league in 2004.
But the club’s fortunes have waned under Lim’s ownership. The club has not qualified for European competitions since 2019 and at present sits 19th out of 20 teams in the league table.
Pitchwise — a consortium of investors including the family offices of Roberts and Kravis — is led by Ann Rodriguez, a seasoned sports executive and former chief operating officer at the WNBA, and Corey Woolfolk, a former footballer turned biotech investor.
Penner Sports Group, which has also invested in the Colorado Rockies baseball team, is the sports investment company of Walmart chair Greg Penner and his wife Carrie.