SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore property developer Rowsley Ltd (SI:ROWS) is paying 29 million pounds ($44.8 million) for a 75 percent stake in a soccer-themed hotel and restaurant business founded by former Manchester United players including Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville.
Rowsley will buy the stake from Singapore billionaire Peter Lim -- a controlling shareholder of Rowsley and owner of Valencia soccer club -- Neville, Giggs and former team mates Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes.
The players are known as the "Class of 92", a reference to their emergence in the Manchester United youth team of the early 1990s.
Rowsley will buy the stakes in the three companies holding the assets of Hotel Football, located next to United's Old Trafford stadium, Café Football in east London and a hotel management company. Rowsley is expanding into the hospitality business.
The company also formed a joint venture with Gary Neville and Giggs for a development in the centre of the northern English city.
Rowsley will invest about 40 million pounds for a 75 percent stake in the project, St Michael's, which will include retail and office space as well as apartments. Beijing Construction Engineering Group will also take a 21 percent stake in the joint venture, while Giggs and Neville will jointly hold the remaining four percent.