KING POWER INTERNATIONAL COMPLETES TAKEOVER OF BELGIAN FOOTBALL CLUB OH LEUVEN
King Power International, part of the King Power Group, today confirms the addition of Belgian football club OH Leuven to its stable of sporting interests.
After a standard period of due diligence that followed King Power International’s initial purchase proposal last month, the takeover of the Belgian Proximus League club has now been formally completed.
King Power Group CEO Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha presided over the conclusion of the 92% acquisition – with its playing ground at 10,000-seater Stadion Den Dreef – on 6th June and has been appointed to the club’s board of directors effective from 8th June, 2017.
OH Leuven joins English Premier League club Leicester City – where Khun Aiyawatt serves as Vice Chairman – among King Power’s sporting portfolio. Aiyawatt will be joined on the OHL board by Leicester City’s Chief Executive, Susan Whelan, and its Director of Football, Jon Rudkin, who will add their collective expertise to OHL’s senior management structure, which will remain otherwise unchanged.
There will be no changes to the roles of Khun Aiyawatt, Ms. Whelan or Mr. Rudkin at Leicester City.
King Power Group CEO Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: “This is an exciting development for the King Power Group and an opportunity for us to work with an aspirational club to realise its significant potential.
“Through sustainable investment in both personnel and facilities, engagement with supporters and mobilising the club within its community, it is our long-term objective to re-establish OH Leuven as a competitive force in Belgium’s top flight.
“We are very much looking forward to working with OHL’s existing management and staff, whose knowledge and expertise of their club and their community will be vital to the implementation of a successful, long-term development plan.”
OH Leuven retained their status in the Proximus League at the end of the 2016/17 season – the inaugural campaign of the reformatted Belgian second tier that sees league standings determine participants in post-season tournaments that resolve matters of promotion and relegation. The new campaign begins in August 2017.
Prior to last term, OHL spent four of the previous five seasons competing in Belgium’s top-flight, the Jupiler Pro League, which they had reached in just nine years since the club was established in 2002 in Belgium’s third division.
In addition to Leicester City – Premier League champions in 2016 and UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists in 2017 – the King Power Group’s sporting portfolio also includes the
King Power Foxes, a dominant force in world polo in recent years and winners of the prestigious Queen’s Cup and Gold Cup double in 2015.
Representatives from King Power, including King Power CEO Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, will be introduced to the Belgian media at a media conference at Den Dreef Stadium, Leuven on Friday 16 June at 1500 CET.
