[EN] Real Estate Investor Buys Stake in Ivory Coast Football Cub

Real estate investor Cheick Sanankoua is buying a minority stake of an Ivory Coast Football club through his private equity outfit Omega Sports Holdings, as part of a larger $50 million investment push into African sports over the next three years. The investment in Racing Club d’Abidjan, a football team based in Ivory Coast’s largest city, is Omega Sports Holdings second deal, following an investment in Abidjan Basketball Club. Racing Club d’Abidjan is a partner club of OGC Nice, owned by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. Sanankoua declined to reveal the financial details.

Sanankoua, 40, a former analyst at Merrill Lynch and investment adviser at Helios Investment Partners, has teamed up with Jean-Luc Agboyibo, who previously worked at the National Basketball Association Inc. ’s Africa league in Senegal, to create a private equity vehicle that will focus on sports investment and development on the continent. Globally there has been a push from institutional investors to enter the business of sports.  The model has taken off in places such as the US, and Europe – although investors are increasingly looking at the potential that exists in more early-stage emerging markets. Marc Lasry, co-founder and CEO of Avenue Capital Group who sold his stake in Milwaukee Bucks last year, has said he was looking to buy basketball teams in Africa. “We are coming in at an early investment stage, with a plan to bring more institutionalinvestment into African sports and to try and create a bigger economy around the sector,” Sanankoua said in an interview. While Sanankoua is investing his own funds made through real estate and other investments over the years, Omega also works with high net worth individuals and family offices in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia, to raise funds, he said.