Global investment giant Apollo Global Management has acquired a minority stake in Wrexham AFC, the once low-key Welsh football club whose trajectory and global projection have been transformed under the management of Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac.
Wrexham said the investment will include funding for the refurbishment of the Racecourse Ground, its approximately 13,000 capacity stadium, and is in line with its “long-term growth strategy and Premier League aspirations”.
Terms of the Apollo deal were not disclosed, but Reynolds and Mac, which changed its name from McElhenney this year, will remain controlling shareholders. A person familiar with the deal said Apollo, which manages around US$908 billion (R$5 trillion) in assets, acquired less than 10% of the club.
Wrexham, one of four Welsh teams playing in the English leagues, has experienced a meteoric rise since being bought in 2021 by Hollywood actors. The duo acquired Wrexham for £2 million (R$14.5 million) when the club was still competing in the fifth division and produced a documentary series —Welcome to Wrexham— for Disney, which chronicles their journey as owners.
The success of the series and the projection of Wrexham’s owners catapulted the club onto the global stage.
Last year, the club sold around 100,000 official shirts, half of which were to foreign fans. Wrexham executives hope to increase that figure with new international distribution deals and project total revenue of around £50 million this season — almost double that collected in the 2023/24 season.
Wrexham is building a new stand — partly funded by the local government — that will increase the capacity of the Racecourse Ground to 18,000 seats and pave the way for the Welsh national team to host international matches.
The club rose through divisions in three consecutive seasons, moving from amateur football to the EFL Championship, the division below the Premier League.
The top two placed teams at the end of the season guarantee automatic access to the Premier League, while the teams placed between third and sixth place compete in the playoffs for access to the last spot. Wrexham are 12th in the Championship after 19 games.
“The dream has always been to take this club to the Premier League while staying true to the city. Growth like this requires world-class partners who share our vision and ambition, and Apollo certainly does,” Mac and Reynolds said in a statement.
Since starring in films such as Deadpool, Reynolds has increased his fortune with several successful investments, including stakes in Aviation Gin, acquired by Diageo for around US$600 million (R$3.3 billion) in 2021, and in communications company Mint Mobile, purchased by T-Mobile in 2023 for US$1.3 billion (R$7.1 billion).
Reynolds and Mac, who created and starred in sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, have made a few other investments in the sport since the Wrexham deal. The pair now have stakes in the Alpine Formula 1 team, the Australian SailGP franchise and two football clubs in Mexico and Colombia.
In October 2024, the Hollywood duo sold a roughly 15% stake in Wrexham to the New York-based Allyn family, which previously owned medical device company Welch Allyn.
Apollo’s surprise investment in Wrexham is part of a concerted effort to invest in sport. The company established a new subsidiary, Apollo Sports Capital, this year, with the aim of investing US$5 billion (R$27.3 billion) in the sector.
Last month, Apollo agreed to buy a majority stake in Atlético de Madrid, in a deal that valued Spain’s third-largest football club at more than €2 billion (R$12.7 billion). The company has previously lent money to English football team Nottingham Forest and the horse racing business run by football super agent Kia Joorabchian.
Apollo partner Lee Solomon called the deal with Wrexham a “multifaceted investment” involving “long-term, patient capital to help Wrexham achieve its objectives and contribute to the ongoing revitalization of the facility and local economy.”
Private capital is flowing into European football at an unprecedented rate. CVC Capital Partners, Sixth Street and Ares Management have been buying stakes and lending money to sports teams and leagues for years, while KKR is in talks to acquire Arctos Partners, a private equity firm specializing in sports.
