Southampton has become the latest European football club to come under Chinese ownership, after real estate magnate Jisheng Gao sidestepped a mainland crackdown on overseas dealmaking to clinch a deal valuing the English Premier League at around £200m.
Katharina Liebherr, the club’s Swiss owner, confirmed that a deal with Mr Gao, who controls Chinese real estate group Lander Holdings, and his daughter Nelly, had been completed and welcomed the new “partners” to the club.
Southampton declined to provide financial details of the transaction, but a person close to the deal said the Gao family had acquired an 80 per cent stake in a transaction that valued the south coast club at around £200m.