Finnish businessman Thomas Zilliacus shuddered in March by announcing that it had joined the bidding process for one of the world’s biggest football brands, Manchester United.
During the spring, United’s plans fell through. Zilliacus has described the sale process of the Manchester club as a farce and criticized the club’s current owners, the Glazer family, for not respecting the club at all.
According to Zilliacus, United’s market value was around 3.6 billion euros. He doubted that no one is ready to pay the price that the Glazer family is demanding, i.e. as much as 6.8 billion euros. It would be the highest price paid for a sports club.
You look to Italy
A week ago, among other things, the news agency Reuters reported that Zilliacus is considering submitting an offer for the Italian major club Inter Milan. Inter will play against Manchester City in the Champions League final on Saturday night.
Inter has been Chinese since 2016 by Steven Zhang owned by Suning Holdings Group. Suning Holdings has denied that the club is in a deal, but according to Reuters, the last round of offers would come in the next few weeks.
– Recently, my name has been linked to Inter Milan. It’s a great club with a great history. However, the owner has said that it is not for sale. Let’s all respect that and support Inter in tomorrow’s final. I predict a tight win for the Nerazzurri, Zilliacus tweeted on Friday, referring to Inter’s nickname.
Zilliacus is interested in the club anyway. He is pursuing ownership through his XXI Century Football Capital investment company. Zilliacus says that his investment company focuses on big, big-name clubs where the company sees growth potential.
Zilliacus has previously told Urheilu about his company group, which produces services for football fans. For example, Zilliacus has publicly promoted a mobile game where a fan can win access to the football club’s VIP enclosure to watch a match.
Zilliacus was surprised that the clubs have not realized all the possibilities of digitalization. He said at the time that his company has developed services for a club that generate $400 a year per participating fan.
– This is an income stream that is almost zero in most clubs these days. Inter has 500 million fans. 500 million times 400 euros is quite a lot of money. Not all fans would participate, of course, but still, it has significant potential, Zilliacus says now.
At Manchester United, Zilliacus was interested in the same potential, but he gave up the pursuit of the English giant, because the price was so high that the investment would not have been reasonable in his opinion.
– Then we started looking at other options. Inter is one club that is really interesting. I don’t want to anticipate things, because tomorrow is the Champions League final, and the team needs peace of mind.
– However, there has been talk for a long time that the Chinese owner might be interested in selling. We are very interested, Zilliacus says in the voice of his investor group.
Three reasons
– Although I have been involved in football all my life, the starting point is business. I don’t invest because I want to be involved in football, but it has to be a profitable and sensible investment, says Zilliacus.
According to Zilliacus, there are three main reasons why he sees Italian football, and especially Inter, as economically interesting.
First of all, Inter has more than 500 million fans, half of which are in Asia, says Zilliacus. One reason for that has been the club’s Chinese owner.
Zilliacus lives most of the year in Singapore. He worked for a long time as Nokia’s director of communications and later as director of Asia in the 1980s and 90s.
– I know that area and I know how to act there in order to build an even bigger fanbase.
Zilliacus has told For Helsingin Sanomat having become wealthy through real estate transactions, shares and founding companies. In 2014, Zilliacus got his social media company Yuuzoo listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. In sports, Zilliacus has acted as chairman of HJK, among other things.
Read more: The defection of Nokia’s communications boss to the entertainment industry was a shock – this has been Thomas Zilliacus’s path in business
As a second reason, Zilliacus raises Italy’s TV allowances, which he says are “in their infancy”.
– It has significant growth potential. That’s the reason why clubs in England have so much money.
As a third reason, Zilliacus raises the San Siro, i.e. the home stadium of Inter and AC Milan, which is owned by the city of Milan.
– The clubs together have been preparing the construction of a new stadium for some time. There would be significant other real estate, housing and hotels connected to it. This is also an interesting project that would create an income stream, as long as it is managed in the right way.
Zilliacus’ intentions to buy ManU were viewed with amusement in many places. Zilliacus himself assured that it is “not an ego trip”.
For part of the year, Zilliacus lives in his Lake Como apartment. It wouldn’t be a long way to say goodbye to the team – who could possibly celebrate winning Europe’s biggest club competition on Saturday after ruining Manchester City’s treble dreams.
In May, Zilliacus was at San Siro to watch when Inter beat AC Milan in the Champions League semi-final in a local game.
– Italian football is going strong, he beamed.
Manchester City and Inter will meet in the Champions League final in Istanbul on June 10. at 10 p.m.