With his own business, Perez has been pursuing a similar strategy. The tycoon, born in 1947, is working with a close group of financial advisers to turn his construction group ACS into the world’s largest operator of toll booths. Earlier in April 2021, Perez inaugurated a project that could provide a steady source of revenue for many years to come for ACS, when he bid for 10 billion euros to buy Italy’s largest motorway network from the conglomerate. Atlantia group.

The vision for the Super League and the ACS is the quintessence of more than a decade of planning by an entrepreneur who survived the Spanish real estate crisis of 2007-2008, which engulfed many Perez’s opponent.

In both of these deals, the 74-year-old tycoon turned to Key Capital – a little-known brokerage and consulting firm based in Madrid – for help. One of the members of Key Capital, Anas Laghrari, is arranged to become the General Secretary of SLCo – the newly formed company responsible for running the Super League. Meanwhile, Perez is the President of this tournament.

Jonathan Amouyal, a member of the London-based hedge fund TCI, said: “The way Florentino manages his investments is taking an important step forward. He seems to want his investments will flow into projects that are more stable, with higher predictability and clearer vision. It is impossible to stick to construction projects all your life.”

Launched in 2010, Key Capital stepped in to help ACS reach a previous agreement with Atlantia. The two companies jointly bought the Spanish toll collection group Abertis in 2018, even when ACS was in dire straits. In return, ACS gave Atlantia a stake in its German subsidiary Hochtief.

Key Capital along with Societe Generale (SocGen) is also helping Perez acquire Atlantia’s own toll collection business, while the Italian business itself wants to sell it to a consortium of a state investment fund. While the Atlantia deal would transform ACS dramatically, it was Key Capital’s role in the Super League project that made the company the center of attention.

In particular, the two closest advisors of Perez are shareholders and senior partners at Key Capital. One is Laghrari, 37 years old, a French citizen of Moroccan origin and worked as a derivatives officer at SocGen, until joining Key Capital in 2013. Laghrari, since birth, knew Perez because his father used to work with the Real President on construction projects in Morocco.

A person who used to stand shoulder to shoulder with both of these characters said that Laghrari is like a family member, spending hours every week with Perez: “Anas has absolute trust from Florentino. As long as Anas doesn’t like or believe something, Florentino will walk away from the deal.” Perez was not very confident with his ability to use English. As a result, the businessman turns to Laghrari for everything from reading contracts to advice on how to set up deals. Another trusted advisor of Perez is Borja Prado, a 65-year-old aristocrat. He is the third largest shareholder of Key Capital (with a stake of nearly 15%, behind only Laghrari with 17%) and the founder, holding more than 43% of the shares of Alex Matitia group.