Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of multinational petrochemicals company Ineos, "added a football team to his collection of esoteric buys." The sale of Swiss side Lausanne-Sport to Ineos was confirmed on Monday. The team has won the league seven times, the last in '65, "and the cup nine times." Club President Alain Joseph "has been seeking a buyer for several months" (BBC, 11/13).
Revenues at Ladbrokes Coral "have recovered through the year, thanks to recent double digit sales increases at its online gambling division that have more than offset continued falls in wagers" taken in its retail shops. In a trading update for the period from July 1-Oct. 19, the company said that overall group revenues increased 2% on a constant currency basis, up from a 1% rise "across the rest of the year." Over the four-month period, revenues from its digital arm rose 11% on a constant currency basis, helping to make up for a 1% decline at its U.K. retail shops (FINANCIAL TIMES, 11/13).
AC Milan is in exclusive talks with a single party for the refinancing of €308M ($359M) of the club’s debt, two shareholders quoted CEO Marco Fassone as saying. The two minority investors said that Fassone "did not say who the counterpart was." The club "is majority-owned by a Chinese-led consortium headed by Li Yonghong" (REUTERS, 11/13).
