Shahid Khan Buys Fulham Soccer Team For $300 Million

JACKSONVILLE, FL - SEPTEMBER 16: Owner Shahid Khan of the Jacksonville Jaguars watches warmups before play against the Houston Texans September 16, 2012 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Houston won 27 - 7. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan has purchased the English soccer team Fulham FC from Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al Fayed for $300 million. The enterprise value paid by the NFL team owner is a modest 2.5 times Fulham's 2011-12 revenue, according to the soccer team's financial statements.

The reason for the modest valuation, despite the attractive real estate Khan acquires in purchasing Fulham, is the soccer team's consistent mediocre performance on the pitch has meant no appearances in the lucrative Champions League tournament since Al Fayed bought the team 16 years ago. As a result, Fulham loses money (in the sense of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and had negative equity of $293 million.

Khan's entry into sports has clearly been as a value investor. The Jaguars have never been to a Super Bowl and have not qualified for the postseason since 2007. Khan snapped up the Jaguars last January for $770 million, or just 3.3 times revenue. In contrast, Jimmy Haslam recently bought the Cleveland Browns, another struggling football team, for $987 million, or 3.8 times revenue.

Al Fayed takes a small loss on the sale. He paid $45 million for Fulham in 1997 and has loaned the team $293 million.