III Sport Invest Makes €6.2M Offer For Controlling Stake In Valenciennes

Swiss group III Sport Invest made an offer of €6.2M ($7M) to purchase two-thirds of Ligue 2 side Valenciennes, according to Joël Domenighetti of L’ÉQUIPE. III Sport Invest previously tried to purchase Ligue 2 side Troyes in Oct. ’17 and May ’18, but was “unable to verify the reliability” of its funds to complete the deal. Valenciennes President Eddy Zdziech reached an agreement for III Sport Invest to purchase 68% of Diables Rouges Holdings, the company that owns close to 78% of the club. Should that deal be approved, Zdziech will remain a minority shareholder of Valenciennes through DRH (around 20%). In a meeting with shareholders, Zdziech said that he received “several offers for his club but settled on III Sport Invest.” The €6.2M deal includes a clause that would increase the purchase price by €4M ($4.5M) should Valenciennes be promoted to Ligue 1 by the ’22-23 season (L’ÉQUIPE, 12/10).