Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe has become the majority owner at Ligue 2 club Caen via his Coalition Capital investment fund.
Coalition Capital has bought the 80 per cent of the club’s shares which had been owned by asset management company Oaktree Capital Management, which also owns 99.6 per cent of Italian club Inter Milan.
Coalition Capital is the investment fund of Interconnected Ventures, founded by Mbappe and “committed to driving continuous innovation in sports, media, and investments”.
Caen — based in the city located in Normandy, 240 km west of Paris — confirmed the transfer of funds from Oaktree to Coalition Capital on Wednesday.
Ziad Hammoud, CEO of Interconnected Ventures, will become Caen president.
Coalition Capital annonce la reprise des parts d’Oaktree dans le @SMCaen aux côtés de PAC Invest. #SMCaen #TeamSMC
— Stade Malherbe Caen (@SMCaen) July 31, 2024
“As the lead investor in this project, we are very excited to continue the development of Caen, alongside PAC Invest (Pierre-Antoine Capton’s investment company, which remains a minority shareholder of the club),” Hammoud said.
“Our shared vision with the club of sporting excellence and community engagement is at the heart of our approach. We are determined to create an environment where young talents can flourish and where the club can defend its identity with strength and ambition.”
Caen have played in Ligue 2 since 2019 (JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images)
When he was 13, Mbappe came close to joining the youth academy of Caen, who tracked him for three years and held talks with his family over a move. However, the striker joined Monaco.
Caen finished sixth in Ligue 2 in the 2023-24 season, missing out on the promotion play-offs to Ligue 1 by one point, having finished fifth the previous term.
The club spent five seasons in the French top flight until relegation in 2019 and gave senior breakthroughs to players including N’Golo Kante, Raphael Guerreiro and William Gallas.
(Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)
