The board of SV Werder Bremen has taken an important step for the future of the Green-Whites and secured a strategic partner for the club. A regional consortium, comprising companies and private individuals with long-standing ties to Werder, is making €38 million available to the club as part of a capital injection. In return for the money, the newly-founded enterprise will receive around 18 percent in the shares in SV Werder Bremen GmbH & Co. KGaA.
Amongst those supporting the consortium are Frank Baumann, Arnd Brüning, Jens Christophers, Marco Fuchs, Martin Harren, Klaus Meier, Harm Ohlmeyer and Kurt Zech. The regional alliance will be granted two seats on the supervisory board of SV Werder Bremen GmbH & Co. KGaA. Jens Christophers and Arnd Brüning will fill these positions. The size of the committee will increase from seven to nine members.
“This is an important step for Werder Bremen. With these partners, the management has implemented the board’s strict guidelines to the letter and fulfilled our three wishes. Firstly: to find backers from the region who will respect and preserve the values, identity and tradition of the club. Secondly: To bring people on board who are committed long-term and whose priority is Werder’s development. And thirdly: to secure partners who do not want to wield any operational influence. Because one thing was and is essential to us: “Werder must remain Werder!”
“SV Werder are even more prepared for the future. The funds provided increase our capital and give us larger economic agency. We have agreed with our new partners to use the money to strengthen the core business of football at Werder Bremen. This partnership will give us more economic freedom to push on further with infrastructural changes. The focus will also be on investing in young, talented players to create sustainable value for Werder Bremen. And simply put: we want to continue on the path that makes the best economic sense. This investment doesn’t guarantee that Werder will play in Europe in the next few years. But this will give us a boost in every aspect.”
The regional association’s involvement has been laid out for the long term. Time and legal restrictions prohibit a possible resale of the shares. Equally, Werder always have a right of first refusal. “We have a guarantee that the strategic partners will have no influence on the operation of the business. We of course want to use the network and the input of the group to bring Werder forward together. A control function in the supervisory board is a common practice with this sum of money. We will make this possible by increasing the board by two people,” said Filbry.
“SV Werder Bremen is a key institution in Bremen and the surrounding region, which we as a regional confederation clearly recognise. We want to contribute towards shaping Werder’s future positively and we are hoping to develop a spirit of optimism. As a strategic partner, we are planning for long-term and sustainable involvement. For this reason, we’ve also agreed on temporal and legal restrictions on the resale of shares. We are committed to Werder’s long-term development rather than focusing on short-term profit. We are impressed by the ideas and plans of those in charge at the club. We want to be successful alongside them.”
Filbry added: “We’re very glad that we’ve reached this outcome together. I would like to thank our new partners. Additionally, I’d like to thank my colleagues from the executive board, Werder Bremen’s presidium, the supervisory board, as well as our Head of Legal and Compliance, Dr. Henning Hofmann, and our financial director, Daniel Bruss. Everyone has done an outstanding job.”
