Parken Sport & Entertainment (PS&E), parent company of the Parken stadium and Danish Superliga football club FC København, has announced it is seeking a new owner for the 38,000-seat venue.
PS&E said it is “looking for opportunities” to sell the group’s property portfolio, which along with Parken also includes office towers and two aquatics centres in Rødby and Billund.
A full or partial divestment of the portfolio is being looked at, with the intention that PS&E would remain the operator of both the stadium and FC København. Parken Sport & Entertainment chairman, Allan Agerholm, said: “In connection with the ongoing separation of the companies, which we have regularly announced, we are now in a situation where it makes really good sense to seek a full or partial divestment of our properties at Parken and Lalandia, which are all very attractive for investors or partners.
“If the process ends with a sale, it will result in a significant strengthening of our capital base and create new opportunities in relation to the development of our activities in FC København and Lalandia.”
The potential divestments come amid a major restructuring of PS&E, which last month announced that the two aquatics centres would be split into separate companies, while Parken and the office towers would be transferred to a newly established company, named PSE Ejendomme A/S.
In September, PS&E also announced that it was considering making FC København an independent company, only for this plan to be postponed until 2023 at the earliest last month. PS&E’s latest accounts, for the period spanning January to September 2021, stated that the group’s interest-bearing debt stood at DKK 1.4bn (£156.8m/€188.1m/$213.4m) as of September 30. The group’s property portfolio has been valued at around DKK 1.9bn.
PS&E stressed that any deal would see it remain the tenant of the properties, assuring that FC København would continue to call Parken home. Agerholm added: “It is crucial for us that we find the right investors or partners, so that overall we create the right conditions for developing both FC København and Lalandia in the future.
“We continue to see great growth potential in both Lalandia and FCK, and we can create a better opportunity to redeem this through a full or partial sale of the property portfolio.”
In August 2020, Denmark’s national football federation said it would take an active role in the redevelopment of Copenhagen’s Parken and the construction of a new stadium in Aarhus as it targets bids for international tournaments.
The Danish Football Union’s (DBU) board agreed to help shape plans to modernise Parken, which has been the home of the national team since it opened in its current guise in 1992. It said it would work alongside the City of Copenhagen and PS&E in their bid to modernise the stadium’s framework and facilities.
The board’s announcement came after the DBU in October 2019 said that Denmark needs a 50,000-seat stadium in an effort to keep up with developments in other European nations. After months of consultations with a number of municipalities, companies and organisations, DBU opted to pursue a redevelopment plan at Parken.
Image: Leif Jørgensen/CC BY-SA 4.0/Edited for size
