China's Lander Sports agrees to buy stake in Saints
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese stadium builder Lander Sports Development said on Thursday that it has agreed to buy a stake in Southampton Football Club, making it the latest English Premier League team to do a deal with Chinese investors.
Lander said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that it had signed an agreement with Southampton's owner, Katharina Liebherr, to buy a stake in the soccer club's holding company, without disclosing financial details.
The size of the stake in the club, which on Wednesday night beat Liverpool to reach the final of England's League Cup, was not known.
Chinese entities and individuals have ploughed more than $3 billion into overseas soccer investments over the past year or so, encouraged by avid fan President Xi Jinping who wants the country to become a soccer superpower.
Currently placed 11th in the English Premier League, Southampton would join Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers as English football clubs that now have Chinese investors.
Shares in Lander, which builds stadiums and organises sporting competitions, have been suspended since Oct. 14. Reports of its interest in Southampton began swirling last year.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh)