It's almost a year since RedBird Capital Partners acquired an 11 per cent stake in Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group.
Having seen RedBall, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with baseball analytics guru Billy Beane fail to clinch a deal for a larger stake in FSG towards the end of 2020, RedBird founder and managing partner Gerry Cardinale returned to the table in early 2021 with his private equity fund and a deal worth $750m was struck.
FSG received a welcome injection of capital during the pandemic and were able to continue with their plans for investment and expansion across their sporting portfolio, while John Henry and Tom Werner were also able to bring in the skills, expertise and capital of Cardinale, a man who had a relationship with Henry and Werner dating back some 20 years.
