BarcelonaAmong the thousands of attendees this Sunday in the stands of the Santiago Bernabéu, there will be one of the people with the most and best relationships in modern football. He is only 39 years old, lives in Madrid, was born in Casablanca (Morocco) into a rich family and goes by the name of Anas Laghrari. In the first classic of the season, this discreet and hard-working banker will cheer on his team, Real Madrid presided over by Florentino Pérez, whom he loves as if he were his uncle. The explanation for this link must be sought more than three decades ago, when the current president merengue – and owner of the real estate giant ACS – he met his father, who is a road engineer, following a project that did not end up going ahead.
As a result of this family relationship, and of a higher education in France – he studied financial mathematics there before making a name for himself at the Société Générale bank – he has become the head financial achiever of one of the most powerful men in Spain. Through the firm Key Capital Partners, of which he has been a partner since 2013, Laghrari has participated in the purchase of Abertis by ACS, in the financing of the renovation of the Bernabéu and – very importantly – in the rain of millions associated with the foundation of the European Super League. From an office located in the opulent Salamanca district of the State capital, and despite his white football affiliation, he was also key to Barça closing the famous economic levers this summer. Of the four that the Barça club has had to activate in order to dribble past the red numbers and make signings like Lewandowski’s, three have been negotiated by him more than 600 kilometers from Camp Nou. Only that of Orpheus Media (Jaume Roures), linked to the sale of Barça Studios, has not left his agenda.
“Not only did he help us find the investors in question, but he also did the work necessary to convince them. He offers a comprehensive service, knows the market well and has very important contacts.” This is how they speak from Barça’s offices about the work that Laghrari and his team did first to confirm the sale of 25% of the television rights of the League for the next 25 years and then to structure the entry of Socios.com to exploit the institution’s metaverse business. For his participation in the first transaction, the Franco-Moroccan banker agreed a commission of around 8 million euros. “The same thing happened as with Spotify’s sponsorship,” acknowledges Arístides Maillol in reference to the fees charged by Darren Dein, an external advisor, to bring the Swedish company to the front of the first team shirt.
8
Anas Laghrari received millions of euros to facilitate the sale of television rights to Sixth Street
In the case of the operation in two sections with Sixth Street, Laghrari cooked the deal on behalf of Barça while the Barça treasurer with functions of general director, Ferran Olivé, negotiated with CVC and Javier Tebas a similar clause in the framework of LaLiga Impulse To commit to paying the more than 500 million euros in exchange for the audiovisual package over the next five years, Sixth Street had to borrow from Bank of America, one of the star financiers of Madrid’s businesses, and JP Morgan, the investment fund behind the Superliga. Joan Laporta, who never saw with good eyes signing with CVC, decided on the preferred path of Florentino, whom even today he thanks for the moves so that the government of Pedro Sánchez stopped demanding millionaire guarantees from the managers of the sports clubs . As a result of this match of suppliers, one of Laghrari’s employees entered the Barça offices to sign paperwork with a Madrid backpack slung over his back. “He was a clueless junior,” they say apologetically from around Key Capital Partners.
On the other hand, in the sale of the first 25% of Barça Studios, Laghrari played a less prominent role than the Sixth Street operation. He limited himself to structuring the entry of Socios.com, which already managed the fan tokens of the club since Bartomeu’s time, whose managers tell ARA that they never made deals with Florentino’s trusted banker, who is now so involved in Barça’s financial life.
Madrid dribbled the losses
Laghrari was also key to Sixth Street entering the business of operating the new Bernabéu. Through its Legends subsidiary, the American fund will absorb 30% of the profit generated by the Madrid stadium over the next 20 years, excluding season ticket fees. The move served to record an unexpected income of 316 million euros before the end of the 2021/22 financial year. Without this advance, Madrid, which has had to pay very high premiums for the achievement of the League and the Champions League, would have presented losses this June 30.
After extraordinary operations. This is how the two big clubs in state football have survived lately. With different starting points, yes – Barça has still not straightened out its net worth after the pandemic – but with the same financial remedies that are already the general tone of most teams on the continent. The difference is that the protagonists of the classic still say they belong to their partners. However, in practice they are sustained thanks to the investors who manage so well Anas Laghrari, a modern executive with more sense of smell, more information and, ultimately, more power than many of the old-school managers who today populate the boxes of the Bernabéu and the Camp Nou That the Superliga succeeds is his dream of the 40s.
