American football: US investment firm buys into Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory have secured their financial future after the death of former director Mario Biasin, with an American private investment firm adding the A-Leagues club to its growing network of teams across Europe and South America.

777 Partners, a Miami-based private equity firm that owns stakes in La Liga side Sevilla, Serie B team Genoa, Paris-based Red Star FC and Brazilian club Vasco da Gama, has been unveiled as Victory’s newest shareholder, as first revealed by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Wednesday morning.

The firm is believed to have taken on a non-controlling stake in Melbourne Victory, with their investment the first by a foreign entity in the club’s 17-year history, and described by the club as “one of the biggest investment deals into a single sports team in Australian history”.

“In looking at the benefits of a strategic partnership for the club, it was key for Melbourne Victory that we aligned with the right partner who would help create new opportunities for growth and development as well as maintaining what makes Melbourne Victory special,” chairman Anthony Di Pietro said.

“The 777 Partners deal will strengthen our capital base and will allow the club to supercharge its growth trajectory as well as ensure its longevity in Australia and football while retaining the Melbourne Victory brand, fabric and history.”

777 Partners is also the owner and backer of new low-cost Australian airline Bonza, which is set to commence operations later this year, and was revealed as Victory’s major sponsor earlier this week in a record four-year deal.

Bonza is the new major sponsor of Melbourne Victory - and now the airline’s owners, 777 Partners, have bought into the A-League club.Credit: Getty

Bonza replaces Metricon Homes, the company co-founded by the late Mario Biasin, on the front of Victory’s jersey. Biasin, who was one of Victory’s biggest shareholders, died suddenly in May, leaving the club in a precarious financial position and necessitating a search for further benefactors. Last month, this masthead also reported details of a legal battle between another investor Joe Mirabella and former managing director Richard Wilson, who had been trying to sell off his 2.31 million shares in the club to fans at $2.20 per share.

Founded by Josh Wander and Steve Pasko, 777 Partners has been eyeing off a possible move into the A-Leagues for approximately a year, settling on an arrangement with Victory after discussions with other groups seeking to join the competition through expansion.

After acquiring Genoa in September last year, the firm has since bought into Vasco da Gama, Belgian club Standard Liege and Red Star FC, who play in France’s third division. The multi-club network brings Victory into line with crosstown rivals Melbourne City, who are owned by the Abu Dhabi-controlled City Football Group and have sister clubs in England, Japan, France, Italy, Uruguay and the United States – although 777’s clubs, unlike some in City’s, have not and will not have their logos and colours changed to match the rest of the group.

In May, 777 appointed Don Dransfield, the former chief strategy officer at the City Football Group, to head up their global soccer operations. Dransfield will now join the Victory board, and said 777 would build on the club’s current structures rather than pursue any major changes.

“This isn’t about fundamentally changing what’s happening, it’s about looking to add additional expertise in quite specific areas whilst maintaining all the things that have made Victory the club that it is today,” he said. “Our view and our investment thesis is that football in Australia is geared and set up for growth and the league provides the right format and structure to help us support that.”

Dransfield spent 12 years at the City Football Group, including a six-month stint with Melbourne City that he said has prepared him well to work with Victory.

“It meant that I was able to learn a bit about the way that A-League works ... that means that I’m not starting from a position where I’m having to relearn a whole bunch of intricacies of the environment,” he said.

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