QPR tests Mittal’s mettle

Steel baron Lakshmi Mittal is weighing up whether to boost his shareholding in west London football club Queens Park Rangers, which has just won promotion to the Premier League.
The chairman and main owner of ArcelorMittal told the Financial Times that he was “thinking about” whether to take up the option of buying more shares from Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One supremo, who owns 62 per cent of the club.
Mr Mittal – with a 33 per cent stake – is an obvious contender to take up any of the shareholding Mr Ecclestone decides to offload. But “I haven’t talked to Bernie about this [the possibility of the change of ownership],” he said.
Mr Mittal takes a back seat in running the club – although this did not stop him being serenaded by celebrating fans at the team’s final home game last Saturday.
He leaves QPR matters to Amit Bhatia, his son-in-law and the club’s vice-chairman. Mr Mittal was persuaded to take an initial 20 per cent stake in 2007 by Mr Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, the former team principal of Renault F1. He has always stressed that he has never intended to be a long-term shareholder let alone take over the majority stake.
However, it is highly unlikely that Mr Mittal would want to cut his share at such a successful moment in the club’s history. Also, as a keen football fan – who has fond memories of playing the sport as a child in India – Mr Mittal could easily be open to the challenge of being the lead shareholder.
Looking ahead to next season, Mr Mittal said the priority was “to stay in the division and make progress”. He said that the club needed “at least two seasons of stability [in the Premiership]” as a prelude to what he hopes will be a long spell in England’s top league​

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Cheers for this Andrew, sounds very positive. I think the Mittal connection is the most trustworthy of our shareholders too.

 

Agreed. Sounding better and better at ownership level all the time at the moment.

The other interesting thing Lakshmi's said lately is that football ain't a business, it's entertainment. Unusual attitude for a self-made entrepreneur.