German insurer Allianz is paying 110 million Euros for an 8.33% stake in Bayern Munich, reigning Champions League holders and one of the world's best-known football clubs. The deal Alianz said it had also extended a sponsorship deal giving the insurer the option to extend the naming rights for the club's Munich stadium until 2041.
"FC Bayern München has thus once again set in place the basis of a solid, financially secure future for the club," Jan-Christian Dreesen, FC Bayern München AG board member responsible for finance said in a statement.
Bayern will use the proceeds to pay down the club's remaining obligations on the Allianz Arena in Munich. The stadium would then be debt free, the football club said. Proceeds would also be used for the planned reconstruction of the youth and junior facility in Munich, the club further said.
Bayern Munich's stadium cost 340 million euros to build, and has been known as the Allianz Arena since it opened in 2005, when the insurer and the football club began their sponsorship deal.
With the capital injection Allianz becomes the third strategic partner of FC Bayern alongside sportswear maker Adidas and car maker Audi.
The three companies, which are all headquartered in the Free State of Bavaria, now each hold an 8.33 percent stake in the club, Bayern Munich said.
In accordance with the club's statutes, the main shareholder remains the FC Bayern München e.V. association and its members which control 75 percent of the stock.