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(Sports Focus) Evergrande takes back control of Chinese top soccer club

Xinhua, June 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Leading real estate group Evergrande has taken back the control over its soccer club after buying 10 percent stake from partner and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.

The Evergrande Taobao club announced on Wednesday that Evergrande Group paid 400 million yuan (about 64.44 million U.S. dollars) plus the asset of its soccer school for 10 percent stake of the club. As a result, Evergrande Group will be holding controlling 60 percent stake.

The club said the deal did not mean the honeymoon of the two sides was over.

"An evenly splitted stakes did not fit in modern enterprise system," said the Guangzhou-based club. "The two sides had a friendly negotiation and agreed that Evergrande would become the controlling party. The form of cooperation remains the same."

Evergrande's partnership with Alibaba started in June last year when Alibaba paid 1.2 billion yuan (about 192 million U.S. dollars) to acquire 50 percent stake in the Asian champions.

Evergrande boss Xu Jiayin then said it was the group's "strategic decision" to introduce new capital to the club.

Evergrande Taobao club has been dominating the Chinese Super League since their promotion to the top flight in 2011. It also claimed the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League crown in 2013, becoming China's first Asian champion since the country launched the professional league in 1994. Endi