Investor Klaus-Michael Kühne is still willing to expand his financial commitment to the second division soccer team Hamburger SV. “I’m open and ready to talk,” said the 85-year-old billionaire of the “Hamburger Morgenpost” (Friday). Kühne sees it as a positive that his confidante Hans-Walter Peters, contrary to the plans of chairman Marcell Jansen, should continue to be a member of the supervisory board. “Many things seem to be cleared up in the HSV committees. I am full of hope that a positive development is in the offing.”
Kühne Holding AG, as the second-largest shareholder of HSV Fußball AG, had already offered the club an investment of a further 120 million euros in the summer – albeit under several conditions. Among other things, the club is to increase Kühne’s stake in HSV from the current 15.21 to 39.9 percent and HSV e.V. reduce its stake as the majority shareholder from 75.1 to 50.1 percent. Jansen, head of the association and supervisory board, has so far rejected this because of the statutes (the maximum for foreign investors is 24.9 percent).
A change in the statutes would only be possible with a three-quarters majority in the membership, which in the past has mostly spoken out against it. However, Kühne remains confident and wishes for a rosy HSV future. “Of course, stability in the management bodies, a corporate structure for professional football that can create a broad capital base, and first and foremost sporting success, which can only mean promotion to the Bundesliga at the end of the 2022/23 season,” he explained Investor.
