USM Holdings has entered into a five-year sponsorship deal with Liverpool Football Club (FC) Everton. Under the terms of the contract, the Everton FC training base will change its name to USM Finch Farm, Everton said in a statement. USM Holdings will also receive marketing rights, including advertising at the Goodison Park stadium on match days, the statement said. A USM spokesman declined to comment, the information was confirmed by a person close to the company.
The parties did not disclose the amount of the contract. In the past two months, Everton has received £ 75 million, including from a new sponsor of the training base and the academy, The Guardian quoted football club CEO Robert Elston as saying at a January 4 shareholder meeting.
Founded in 1878, Everton is one of the football clubs in the English Premier League. He plays home matches at the 40,000-seat Goodison Park stadium. The club’s annual revenue is £ 121.5 million, Bloomberg notes.
USM has consolidated the assets of Usmanov and his partners: it owns the largest mining company in Russia and the CIS, Metalloinvest, the Baikal Mining Company. The holding also controls the telecom operator Megafon and the Internet holding Mail.ru Group, Publishing House Kommersant. USM also has stakes in JD.com, Airbnb, UTV and others. The main beneficiaries of the group, according to Interfax, are Usmanov (48%), Vladimir Skoch (31%) and Moshiri (11%).
In February 2016, it became known that Moshiri became the owner of 49.9% of the shares of FC Everton. At about the same time, Usmanov increased his stake in the English club Arsenal, having bought from Moshiri a stake in Red & White, which they owned on a parity basis. As a result, Usmanov increased his stake in the Arsenal club to 30%.
The renaming of the Finch Farm site, as well as an extensive package of marketing rights will give USM access to global media, Ivan Streshinsky, a member of the USM board of directors, was quoted as saying in the club’s message. The club, in turn, will increase revenues through the deal, Elston said. The sponsorship money will help Everton build a new stadium, which the club is now trying to obtain permission to build, Bloomberg said.
Everton is a large club, like most English clubs, it makes good money on ticket sales and TV contracts and does not need money, reminds the general director of Telesport Marketing, Petr Makarenko. USM is more interested in such a contract, he said.
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