Bournemouth are a welcome addition to the Premiership and most pundits think they have a good chance of staying up. But where does their money come from?
Russian owner Maxim Demim has loaned at least £25m to the club, plus injecting another £14m in preference shares by the end of 2014. Most of this came from a Demim company in the Britsh Virgin Islands which also owns the club. Further millions are expected to be injected in 2015.
The club lost £10m in 2014, taking accumulated losses to £30m. That figure is expected to have increased for 2015.
Bournemouth are a welcome addition to the Premiership and most pundits think they have a good chance of staying up. But where does their money come from?
Russian owner Maxim Demim has loaned at least £25m to the club, plus injecting another £14m in preference shares by the end of 2014. Most of this came from a Demim company in the Britsh Virgin Islands which also owns the club. Further millions are expected to be injected in 2015.
The club lost £10m in 2014, taking accumulated losses to £30m. That figure is expected to have increased for 2015.
Demin bought the Cherries in two stages between 2011 and 2013 after buying a £5m property in nearby Sandbanks. He has never been a director. He is usually described as a petrochemicals trader and runs Wintel Petrochemicals here.
However, Russian sources claim that he has made his money working with Tatneft, the London-listed partly state-owned leading oil producer from Tatarstan in central Russia. Demim was a director of the Jersey-registered International PetroChemical Growth fund established in 2005 to provide long-term funding for Tatarstan.
In any event most fans would like an owner who splashes the cash and doesn’t interfere in the running of the club.