Brentford owner Matthew Benham has sold his majority stake in FC Midtjylland to Danish businessman Anders Holch Povlsen.

Holch Povlsen bought a 25% stake in Midtjylland in 2021 but now takes an ownership of 95.5 per cent of the club.

Although Benham is stepping away from Midtjylland, they will still be supplied data by Smartodds, the gambling company he runs.

Benham became Brentford’s majority shareholder in 2012 and two years later bought a 60 per cent stake in Midtjylland.

The theory was that Benham could test out innovative ideas on how to run a football club with the Danish top-flight side and then try to implement them at Brentford. The two clubs would exchange players and in 2021 Brentford bought Nigerian midfielder Frank Onyeka from Midtjylland for £8.5million.

During the first 12 months of Benham’s ownership, Midtjylland won the league title for the first time in their history. They were champions in 2017-18 and 2019-20 too. Midtjylland qualified for the group stages of the Champions League for the first time in 2019-20 but finished bottom of their group which included Liverpool, Atalanta and Ajax.

Midtjylland had never finished lower than fourth during Benham’s nine years in charge until they ended last season in seventh and competed in the play-offs to avoid relegation.

Since Brentford won the Championship play-off final in 2021, Benham’s main focus has been on helping them survive in the Premier League.

Benham has sold his stake to Heartland, a company which is run by Holch Povlsen who made his fortune running the clothing chain Bestseller. The 50-year-old is also the largest shareholder in the online fashion brand ASOS, the second-largest in German internet clothing retailer Zalando and is the largest individual private landowner in the United Kingdom.

Heartland have bought a majority stake in Portuguese second division club CD Mafra too.

“When I invested in FC Midtjylland in 2014, it was because I believed that there was unfulfilled potential and that I could help move the club to the next level,” Benham said in a statement on Midtjylland’s website. “It has been a fun and exciting journey with many highlights and memorable moments as well as the development and sale of great talent.

“I have been very impressed by the club, where I felt welcome from day one. I quickly became part of the family, and there is a culture that has made it possible to implement the ideas I came up with, and which we have since then built on and developed together to the delight of both FC Midtjylland and Brentford FC. I am full of respect for the work that has been done over the past nine years.

“For the past two years, I have had a fantastic collaboration with Heartland on the development of FC Midtjylland, and I have no doubt that the club will now be taken over by the right owner. It makes me safe, happy and proud that I can leave FC Midtjylland in a better place than when I took over, and I would like to thank everyone I have worked with and met along the way. I will continue to follow the club closely.”

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