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Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan ‘to offload Cardiff, other football stakes’

LONDON — Embattled football club owner Vincent Tan is throwing in the towel.

Mr Tan, who leads the Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Group, has grown increasingly unpopular with Cardiff fans since buying the team in 2010. TODAY file photo

Mr Tan, who leads the Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Group, has grown increasingly unpopular with Cardiff fans since buying the team in 2010. TODAY file photo

LONDON — Embattled football club owner Vincent Tan is throwing in the towel.

The Malaysian businessman is selling the one-time Premier League team Cardiff City and his stake in Major League Football’s Los Angeles FC (LAFC), as well as professional teams in Bosnia and Belgium, said people familiar with the offerings.

Tan, who leads the Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya Group, has grown increasingly unpopular with Cardiff fans since buying the team in 2010.

Under his ownership, the team was promoted to the Premier League, then relegated to the second division again, where it is currently in the middle of the table. Fans also howled at some of Tan’s efforts to raise the team’s global profile, including changing the colour of the Bluebirds home jersey to red.

Including the purchase price of the team, Tan has spent more than £180 million (S$314 million) on Cardiff, said one of the people, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

The club lost £8 million on revenue of £38 million in 2015, according to its most-recent financial report.

Tan is said to be looking to sell Cardiff City for about £50 million.

In July, China’s Fosun International paid about £45 million for Wolverhampton Wanderers, who are currently 11 points behind Cardiff City.

Tan would also consider selling his football portfolio as a whole, said one of the people.

“We would entertain an offer but we’re in no rush to sell, nor do we need to sell,” said Mehmet Dalman, a former board member of Commerzbank AG, who is Cardiff’s chairman. LAFC executives declined to comment.

FK Sarajevo and KV Kortrijk did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Led by Larry Berg, Brandon Beck and Bennett Rosenthal, the ownership group of the Los Angeles FC paid Major League Soccer (MLS) US$110 million (S$155 million) to put a second club in the nation’s second-biggest media market, part of the league’s overall expansion to 28 clubs.

Tan is one of a handful of minority shareholders and is not involved in the daily operations of the franchise.

LAFC owners are also paying for the team’s new US$350 million stadium in south Los Angeles, which is scheduled to open in time for the club’s 2018 debut.

The average MLS club is worth about US$185 million, up 80 per cent from 2013, according to annual valuations by Forbes Magazine.

Tan is not the only Malaysian owner of an English football club. Malaysian airline entrepreneur Tony Fernandes owns Queens Park Rangers (QPR), having bought the whole of then-Formula-One-supremo Bernie Ecclestone’s 66 per cent stake in the club for about £35 million in 2011. Since then, the club has been going up and down the Premier League. It won promotion to the Premier League in 2011, was relegated in 2013, secured promotion the following season before going down again at the end of the 2014-15 season. QPR are now 17th in the 24-team second-tier English Championship, below Tan’s Cardiff in 12th spot. AGENCIES

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