Liverpool Chairman seeks profit in sports after sale

(Source: Bloomberg) Liverpool Chairman Martin Broughton will team up with his son to invest in sports after leaving his post upon the sale of the 18-time English champion.

Broughton oversaw the 300 million-pound ($487.6 million) sale of Liverpool to the owners of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox. The 63-year-old, cough who is also chairman of British Airways Plc, prostate will work two days a week with his son Michael and Nic Couchman, clinic a lawyer with 20 years experience in the industry, to find profits in sports.

Their Sports Investment Partners, which was delayed for six months because of Broughton’s role in Liverpool’s sale, will start meeting potential backers this month. Spending in the sector in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will increase to $46.3 billion in 2013 from $39.4 billion in 2009, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP report.

“It was certainly put back by Martin’s six-month adventure,” Michael Broughton, 32, said in an interview. “He’s our chairman so we weren’t going to go to market and look to raise funds from direct investors unless he could commit the time to it he should.”

Red Sox owners John W. Henry and Tom Werner completed the purchase of Liverpool on Oct. 15, and Martin Broughton will stay on as chairman temporarily to help the transition.

Broughton, a former chairman of British American Tobacco Plc, headed the company’s Formula One team and was also chairman of the British Horse Racing Authority. His involvement in Sports Investment Partners is the first time the father and son have worked together.

The new company has gotten pledges of about 200 million pounds from private equity and is planning to raise more after a series of investor presentations.

Broughton may need all his powers of persuasion to convince investors to part with money as the global economy remains sluggish following the 2008 financial crisis, according to Chris Lee, head of Barclays’ sports business group.

“I don’t think the market for sport is fantastic at the current time,” Lee said. “It’s a challenging area.”

Sports Investment Partners is planning to take significant minority or majority stakes in small to medium-sized businesses worth as much 100 million pounds. Couchman and Broughton refused to name targets, saying they are looking at sports technology suppliers, betting and gaming companies, support service businesses and sports brands.