Bloomberg | AquaBloom Bets on Growth in China Sports Investment
By Manuel Baigorri (December 3, 2025)
The global boom in sports deals could be coming to China
Hi, it’s Manuel Baigorri in Hong Kong, where a sports development group is keen to tap the vast potential for growth in China, including via acquisitions.
Sporting goal
Global investors have been deploying capital in sports all around the world, buying teams or providing structured lending, particularly in the US and Europe. China may be next.
Just last month, Apollo bought a majority stake in Atlético de Madrid, joining a growing number of alternative asset managers taking control of famous football teams. Longtime Real Madrid Chairman Florentino Pérez has also said he’s willing to let an external investor take a minority stake in the storied club to better assess how others value the sporting colossus.
As we wrote in this newsletter earlier this year, Asia could be a fruitful frontier. High fliers with roots in the region who have ventured into sports include Joe Tsai, a co-founder of tech giant Alibaba and owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, as well as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who partly owns Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.
Then there’s Mike Yang, an entrepreneur, founder and CEO of AquaBloom International Sports Technology Group, a Hong Kong-based venture firm focused on sports technology infrastructure. AquaBloom has been building and incubating businesses and now wants to grow via acquisitions as well.
“Sports and sports tech has become a hot space for investments,” Yang said in an interview in Hong Kong. “This is likely to increase over time as new generations in China embrace sports even more.”
There are opportunities in bringing popular sports intellectual properties and assets from the West to Asia, especially the giant Chinese market, where there’s keen interest in football, basketball and other sports.
Yang’s earlier career in the US took him from being badminton head coach at the University of California in Berkeley, to roles with Nike and Chinese sportswear firm Li Ning. He later set up International Sports Group in Shanghai and became the exclusive partner of Nike Sports Camp in Greater China.
AquaBloom’s partnerships include the Association of National Olympic Committees and the International Basketball Federation. The goal of joining up with global sports institutions is to bring established brands, IP and assets into China, and vice versa, Yang said.
Patrick Ng, AquaBloom’s CFO, said the firm is in the process of fundraising to support its growth.
“Despite the challenging environment, we’re seeing very good demand from international investors seeking to back up our expansion plans and invest in our platform,” said Ng, who had previous stints at Credit Suisse and in venture capital. “We’re confident we’ll get enough funding to fuel our growth.”
Celebrity sports stars and institutional investors have shown interest in deploying capital and teaming up with AquaBloom, Yang added. But, like a canny football manager ahead of a big match, he was in no rush to reveal any names in his lineup.
Original link:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-12-02/aquabloom-bets-on-china-sports-investment-explores-acquisitions-and-fundraising
